1Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.2He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
3Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
KJVKing James Version
1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
1 And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said: 'I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore get her for me to wife.'
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him: 'Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?' And Samson said unto his father: 'Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.'
Genesis 34:4(v2)Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”
Genesis 24:2-3(v2)Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. I will make you…
Deuteronomy 7:2-3(v3)and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant…
Joshua 15:10(v1)and the border turned about from Baalah westward to Mount Seir, and passed along to the side of Mount Jearim (also called Chesalon) on the…
Judges 15:18(v3)He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die…
1 Samuel 17:36(v3)Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of…
1 John 2:16(v1)For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
Genesis 21:21(v2)He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 34:12-16(v3)Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; but you shall…
1 Samuel 14:6(v3)Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come! Let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that Yahweh will…
1 Samuel 17:26(v3)David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from…
1 Samuel 31:4(v3)Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through,…
2 Samuel 1:20(v3)Don’t tell it in Gath. Don’t publish it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of…
Psalms 119:37(v1)Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
Genesis 6:2(v1)God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
Genesis 13:8(v3)Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives.
Genesis 21:3-4(v3)Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old,…
Genesis 24:3-4(v3)I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of…
Genesis 34:1-2(v1)Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the…
Genesis 34:14(v3)and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
Genesis 38:6(v2)Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
Genesis 38:12-13(v1)After many days, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah, he and his…
2 Samuel 11:2(v1)At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was…
2 Kings 14:9(v2)Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon,…
Job 31:1(v1)“I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
Genesis 21:27(v3)Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv2–3Hebrew, take her for me to wife.
Hebrew, take her for me to wife.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and…
Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Ver. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath.] Whether to the market, or the sports, or some great feast, &c., it is not recorded; but God had an overruling hand in this journey for the punishment of the Philistines, though Samson cannot be altogether excused; for he went "after the sight of his eyes and lust of his heart." {Ecc 11:9} Ill guides.
Read full note →
And saw a woman in Timnath.] This licentious eye should have been plucked out. {Mat 5:29} A little otherwise than Democritus the philosopher put out his eyes, because he could not look upon a woman but he must lust after her; wherein he did nothing else, saith Tertullian, {a} but lay open his own folly to the whole city where he dwelt. How much better David, who prayed, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," {Psa 119:37} and Job, who voweth and imprecateth {Job 31:1; Job 31:7} against these oculorum dolores, as great Alexander called the Persian maids.
{a} In Apolog.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3After he was come to mature age.
After he was come to mature age.
Timnath; a place not far from the sea; of which see Gen 38:12; Jos 15:57; 19:43.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1Here, I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence,…
Here, I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence, seeks an occasion of quarrelling with the Philistines, by joining in affinity with them - a strange method, but the truth is Samson was himself a riddle, a paradox of a man, did that which was really great and good, by that which was seemingly weak and evil, because he was designed not to be a pattern to us (who must walk by rule, not by example), but a type of him who, though he knew no sin, was made sin for us, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might condemn and destroy sin in the flesh, Rom 8:3.
1. As the negotiation of Samson's marriage was a common case, we may observe, (1.) That is was weakly and foolishly done of him to set his affections upon a daughter of the Philistines; the thing appeared very improper. Shall one that is not only an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the Lord, covet to become one with a worshipper of Dagon? Shall one marked for a patriot of his country match among those that are its sworn enemies? He saw this woman (Jdg 14:1), and she pleased him well, Jdg 14:3. It does not appear that he had any reason to think her wise or virtuous, or in any way likely to be a help-meet for him; but he saw something in her face that was very agreeable to his fancy, and therefore nothing will serve but she must be his wife. He that in the choice of a wife is guided only by his eye, and governed by his fancy, must afterwards thank himself if he find a Philistine in his arms. (2.) Yet it was wisely and well done not to proceed so much as to make his addresses to her till he had first made his parents acquainted with the matter. He told them, and desired them to get her for him to wife, Jdg 14:2. Herein he is an example to all children. Conformably to the law of the fifth commandment, children ought not to marry, nor to move towards marrying, without the advice and consent of their parents; those that do (as bishop Hall here expresses it) wilfully unchild themselves, and exchange natural affections for violent. parents have a property in their children as parts of themselves. In marriage this property is transferred; for such is the law of the relation that a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife. It is therefore not only unkind and ungrateful, but very unjust, to alienate this property without their concurrence; whoso thus robbeth his father or mother, stealing himself from them, who is nearer and dearer to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer, Pro 28:24. (3.) His parents did well to dissuade him from yoking himself thus unequally with unbelievers. Let those who profess religion, but are courting an affinity with the profane and irreligious, matching into families where they have reason to think the fear of God is not, nor the worship of God, let them hear their reasoning, and apply it to themselves: "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or, if none of our tribe, never a one among all thy people, never an Israelite, that pleases thee, or that thou canst think worthy of thy affection, that thou shouldest marry a Philistine?" In the old world the sons of God corrupted and ruined themselves, their families, and that truly primitive church, by marrying with the daughters of men, Gen 6:2. God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the devoted nations, one of which the Philistines were, Deu 7:3. (4.) If there had not been a special reason for it, it certainly would have been improper in him to insist upon his choice, and in them to agree to it at last. Yet their tender compliance with his affections may be observed as an example to parents not to be unreasonable in crossing their children's choices, nor to deny their consent, especially to those that have seasonably and dutifully asked it, without some very good cause. As children must obey their parents in the Lord, so parents must not provoke their children to wrath, lest they be discouraged. This Nazarite, in his subjection to his parents, asking their consent, and not proceeding till he had it, was not only an example to all children, but a type of the holy child Jesus, who went down with his parents to Nazareth (thence called a Nazarene) and was subject to them, Luk 2:51.
Read full note →
2. But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to be of the Lord, Jdg 14:4. Not only that God afterwards overruled it to serve his designs against the Philistines, but that he put it into Samson's heart to make this choice, that he might have occasion against the Philistine. It was not a thing evil in itself for him to marry a Philistine. It was forbidden because of the danger of receiving hurt by idolaters; where there was not only no danger of that kind, but an opportunity hoped for of doing that hurt to them which would be good service to Israel, the law might well be dispense with. It was said (Jdg 13:25) that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times, and we have reason to think he himself perceived that Spirit to move him at this time, when he made this choice, and that otherwise he would have yielded to his parents' dissuasives, nor would they have consented at last if he had not satisfied them it was of the Lord. This would bring him into acquaintance and converse with the Philistines, by which he might have such opportunities of galling them as otherwise he could not have. It should seem, the way in which the Philistines oppressed Israel was, not by great armies, but by the clandestine incursions of their giants and small parties of their plunderers. In the same way therefore Samson must deal with them; let him but by this marriage get among them, and he would be a thorn in their sides. Jesus Christ, having to deliver us from this present evil world, and to cast out the prince of it, did himself visit it, though full of pollution and enmity, and, by assuming a body, did in some sense join in affinity with it, that he might destroy our spiritual enemies, and his own arm might work the salvation.
II. Samson, by a special providence, is animated and encouraged to attack the Philistines. That being the service for which he was designed, God, when he called him to it, prepared him for it by two occurrences: -
1. By enabling him, in one journey to Timnath, to kill a lion, Jdg 14:5, Jdg 14:6. Many decline doing the service they might do because they know not their own strength. God let Samson know what he could do in the strength of the Spirit of the Lord, that he might never be afraid to look the greatest difficulties in the face. David, who was to complete the destruction of the Philistines, must try his hand first upon a lion and a bear, that thence he might infer, as we may suppose Samson did, that the uncircumcised Philistine should be as one of them, Sa1 17:36. (1.) Samson's encounter with the lion was hazardous. It was a young lion, one of the fiercest sort, that set upon him, roaring for his prey, and setting his eye particularly upon him; he roared in meeting him, so the word is. He was all alone in the vineyards, whither he had rambled from his father and mother (who kept the high road), probably to eat grapes. Children consider not how they expose themselves to the roaring lion that seeks to devour when, out of a foolish fondness for liberty, they wander from under the eye and wing of their prudent pious parents. Nor do young people consider what lions lurk in the vineyards, the vineyards of red wines, as dangerous as snakes under the green grass. Had Samson met with this lion in the way, he might have had more reason to expect help both from God and man than here in the solitary vineyards, out of his road. But there was a special providence in it, and the more hazardous the encounter was, (2.) The victory was so much the more illustrious. It was obtained without any difficulty: he strangled the lion, and tore his throat as easily as he would have strangled a kid, yet without any instrument, not only no sword nor bow, but not so much as a staff or knife; he had nothing in his hand. Christ engaged the roaring lion, and conquered him in the beginning of his public work (Mat 4:1, etc.), and afterwards spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in himself, as some read it, not by any instrument. He was exalted in his own strength. That which added much to the glory of Samson's triumph over the lion was that when he had done this great exploit he did not boast of it, did not so much as tell his father nor mother that which many a one would soon have published through the whole country. Modesty and humility make up the brightest crown of great performances.
2. By providing him, the next journey, with honey in the carcase of this lion, Jdg 14:8, Jdg 14:9. When he came down the next time to solemnize his nuptials, and his parents with him, he had the curiosity to turn aside into the vineyard where he had killed the lion, perhaps that with the sight of the place he might affect himself with the mercy of that great deliverance, and might there solemnly give thanks to God for it. It is good thus to remind ourselves of God's former favours to us. There he found the carcase of the lion; the birds or beasts of prey, it is likely, had eaten the flesh, and in the skeleton a swarm of bees had knit, and made a hive of it, and had not been idle, but had there laid up a good stock of honey, which was one of the staple commodities of Canaan; such plenty there was of it that the land is said to flow with milk and honey. Samson, having a better title than any man to the hive, seizes the honey with his hands. This supposes an encounter with the bees; but he that dreaded not lion's paws had no reason to fear their stings. As by his victory over the lion he was emboldened to encounter the Philistine-giants, if there should be occasion, notwithstanding their strength and fierceness, so by dislodging the bees he was taught not to fear the multitude of the Philistines; though they compassed him about like bees, yet in the name of the Lord he should destroy them, Psa 118:12. Of the honey he here found, (1.) He ate himself, asking no questions for conscience' sake; for the dead bones of an unclean beast had not that ceremonial pollution in them that the bones of a man had. John Baptist, that Nazarite of the New Testament, lived upon wild honey. (2.) He gave to his parents, and they did eat; he did not eat all himself. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, and no more, Pro 25:16. He let his parents share with him. Children should be grateful to their parents with the fruits of their own industry, and so show piety at home, Ti1 5:4. Let those that by the grace of God have found sweetness in religion themselves communicate their experience to their friends and relations, and invite them to come and share with them. He told not his parents whence he had it, lest they should scruple eating it. Bishop Hall observes here that those are less wise and more scrupulous than Samson that decline the use of God's gifts because they find them in ill vessels. Honey is hone still, though in a dead lion. Our Lord Jesus having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, believers find honey in the carcase, abundant strength and satisfaction, enough for themselves and for all their friends, from that victory.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–3And Samson went down to Timnath,.... A city which…
And Samson went down to Timnath,.... A city which by lot fell to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, and now in the hands of the Philistines, Jos 15:57. Judah is said to go up to it, because the place where he lived lay below it, Gen 38:13, but Samson is said to go down to it, because he lived above it. The Jews (t) differ about the reconciliation of these two places; some say there were two of this name, the one is a descent, and the other is an ascent; others say there was but one, so situated, that they that came to it on one side ascended, and they that came to it on the other side descended. Bochart (u) approves of the former. According to Bunting (w), this was twelve miles from Eshtaol, where Samson lived:
and saw a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines; who at this time dwelt there; he saw no doubt many other women besides her, but he took special notice of her, and entertained a particular affection for her; or, in other words, on sight of her fell in love with her.
Read full note →
(t) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1. (u) IIierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 4. col. 763, 764. (w) Travels, &c. p. 115.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Samson's marriage with a Philistine, and killing a lion,…
Samson's marriage with a Philistine, and killing a lion, ver. 1-7. He finds honey in the carcase, ver. 8, 9. His riddle, ver. 10- 14. Unriddled by means of his wife, ver. 15-18. He kills thirty Philistines, and leaves her, ver. 19,
Went - After he was come to mature age. Timnath - A place not far from the sea.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3Samson marries a wife of the Philistines, 1-4.
CHAPTER XIV
Samson marries a wife of the Philistines, 1-4.
Read full note →
Slays a young lion at Timnath, in the carcass of which he
afterwards finds a swarm of bees, 5-9.
He makes a feast; they appoint him thirty companions, to whom
he puts forth a riddle, which they cannot expound, 10-14.
They entice his wife to get the interpretation from him; she
succeeds, informs them, and they tell the explanation, 15-18.
He is incensed, and slays thirty of the Philistines, 19, 20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. Went down to Timnath] A frontier town of the Philistines, at the beginning of the lands belonging to the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:57; but afterwards given up to Dan, Jos 19:43. David took this place from the Philistines, but they again got possession of it in the reign of Ahaz, 2Ch 28:18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3Jdg 14:1-2. Samson went — After he was come…
Jdg 14:1-2. Samson went — After he was come to mature age; to Timnath — A place not far from the sea. Get her for me to wife — Herein he is an example to all children, conformable to the fifth commandment. Children ought not to marry, nor to move toward it, without the advice and consent of their parents. They that do, as Bishop Hall speaks, unchild themselves. Parents have a property in their children, as parts of themselves. In marriage this property is transferred. It is, therefore, not only unkind and ungrateful, but palpably unjust, to alienate this property, without their concurrence. Whoso thus robbeth his father or mother, stealing from them himself, who is nearer and dearer to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer, Pro 28:24.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Timnath - See Jos 15:10 and note. It was…
Timnath - See Jos 15:10 and note. It was below Zorah Jdg 13:2, about three miles S. W. of it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3Thamnatha, in the confines of the tribes of Juda…
Thamnatha, in the confines of the tribes of Juda and Gad, and of the Philistines, who often took it from the latter. It is called Thamna, Genesis xxxviii. 12, (Bonfrere) and lies near Lidda. (Eusebius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1The opening step of Samson’s career: his unlawful desire…
The opening step of Samson’s career: his unlawful desire to marry a daughter of the Philistines overruled by God for Israel’s good.
Jdg_14:1-4.
Read full note →
1And Samson went down to Timnath [Timnathah], and saw a woman in Timnath 2[Timnathah] of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath [Timnathah] 3of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then [And] his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for 4me; for she pleaseth me well [is pleasing in my eyes]. But [And] his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord [Jehovah], that [for] he sought an occasion against [from] the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion [were lording it] over Israel.
EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL
Jdg_14:1. And Samson went down to Timnah. Timnah or Timnathah, the present Tibneh, situated to the southwest of Zorah, at the confluence of Wady Sumt with Wady Surâr (Ritter, xvi. 116; [Gage’s Transl. iii. 241]), on the border of the tribe of Judah (Jos_15:10), was assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Dan (Jos_19:43), but had fallen into the hands of the Philistines.
Jdg_14:2-3. Get her for me to wife. The history of Samson abounds with instructive notices of the social life of the times. The women lead a free life, not shut up, as they are in the East of the present day. The stranger can see the beauty of the daughters of the land. But Samson cannot yet dispense with the permission of his parents. He is yet in their house, unmarried, a בָּחוּר. From the choice of Samson, and his mode of life, there comes to view, in the first place, the prevalent, though unlawful, admixture of Israelitish and heathen families and customs. But the barriers raised by difference of nationality are nevertheless manifest. The parents at first refuse their consent to Samson’s choice; but they cannot resist his prayer. He is their only son,—and such a son! full of strength and youthful promise,—therefore it gives them pain.1
Jdg_14:4. And his father and his mother knew not. If the mother kept in her heart the saying that her son would begin to deliver Israel, his strength and gifts doubtless awakened many hopes within her. But his wish to marry a Philistine maiden, seemed to destroy every expectation. He who when in his mother’s womb was already consecrated to be a Nazarite, desires to enter into covenant with those who have not even the consecration of circumcision,—and that against the law! He who was endowed to be a deliverer and champion of Israel against the national enemies, shall he become a friend of the tyrants, a member of one of their families? For the parents knew not,—
That this was of Jehovah, for it became an occasion of assailing the Philistines; and at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. The parents could not but be painfully affected, for they knew not what the consequence would be But although ignorant on this point, they nevertheless yielded. They unconsciously submit to he stronger spirit of Samson; and thus their indulgence united with the unconscious longing of their son to bring about the fulfillment of what the angel had announced.
The career of Samson is an historical drama without a parallel. Its dark background is the national life out of which he emerges. Israel is under Philistine oppression, because of sin and consequent enervation. It is not without resentment against the enemy, but it lacks spirit. It prefers slavish peace to a freedom worth making sacrifices for. It hates the national enemies, but it holds illicit intercourse with them. Such a national life in itself can beget no heroes, nor use them when they exist.
The influence of this national life is evident in Samson himself. He has unequaled spirit, strength, and courage; but he is alone. The young man finds no sympathy, at which to kindle himself. There are no patriots in search of heroes. There is no national sorrow, that waits longingly for deliverance and a deliverer, and in consequence thereof recognizes him when he appears. On the contrary, luxury and sensuality prevail, eating away the heart of the rising generation; for national character also is wanting, by which, conscious of their power, Israel’s youth might clearly recognize their proper goal. Samson too had perished in sensuality, which does not distinguish between friend and foe; but his genius has a seal that cannot be broken. The consecration on his head preserves in his soul an impulse that cannot miss its goal. The law of this consecration is freedom. For freedom’s sake, it lends him strength and spirit. Hannibal’s father made him when but a boy swear everlasting war against the Romans. Samson, as Nazarite from his birth, is borne onward, less consciously, but even more surely, to a hatred with which he is not acquainted, and to wrath and battle for the freedom of Israel.
Samson is without an army, without a congenial popular spirit, without sympathy and courage on the part of his countrymen,—not even Gideon’s three hundred are with him; he has no teacher and spiritual leader; he is alone, and moreover exposed to every temptation to which gigantic strength and corporal beauty give rise; but in his consecration to God he has a guidance that does not lead astray. Hence, that by which others are fettered and subjected, becomes for him the means of attaining his destiny. The paths on which others go to destruction, for him become highways of victory and of strength. It is an act of national treason, when he takes a Philistine wife; and yet for him, it becomes the occasion for deeds in behalf of national freedom.
There is no historical drama in which the nobility and invincible destiny of a great personality, reveal themselves so luminously as in the life of Samson.
It is well known that in the history and fiction of all nations, as in the heroic poems of all ages, love for women has formed a chief motive for conflict and adventure. Even the circumstance which throws so great a charm over the lives and contests of the heroes to whom it appertains, that their love breaks through the confines of their own nation or party, and attaches itself so women who live within the circle of the enemy, is constantly recurring. But in those narratives, as also in the Persian legend, where Rudabe, the mother of Rustem, is the daughter of her Iranian lover’s hereditary foeman, and as in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, in Romeo and Juliet, and in the dramas of Schiller,—love is the central point and principal motive. Political barriers, national hatreds, ancient passions, all must yield to love, whether it ends in joy or tragedy. How different is its position in the history of Samson! The antagonism between Israel and the Philistines is justified and commanded. Truth cannot intermix itself with idolatry. The over-leaping by sensuality of the spiritual barriers between the two, is the cause of Israel’s sunken condition. That love through which Samson desires the maiden of Timnah, can be no joyful goal. Hence, the relation of his inborn heroism to love shows itself to be very different from that which obtains in heathenism and romance. There, the exploits of heroism become the occasions of love; for Samson, romance becomes the occasion of heroism. There, love overleaps the lines that separate nationalities; in Samson’s case, it becomes the occasion by which he becomes mindful of the separation. Elsewhere, weakness, sensuality, enjoyment, become the snares which bind the inflamed hero; but for Samson, they become only the occasion for rending asunder the fetters, and for understanding the purpose for which he is endowed with divine strength.
And at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. The addition of this remark is by no means superfluous. It serves to indicate the background of all Samson’s deeds. The mere fact that the Philistines ruled, demonstrated Israel’s apostasy and punishment; that they continued to rule, was evidence of Israel’s powerlessness and inability to repent. It was because they ruled, and Israel was without repentance, that Samson appears so different from Gideon and Jephthah. In the midst of the Philistine supremacy, he enters on his single-handed conflict with them. Notwith-standing that they ruled by means of Israel’s own sin, the objective power of the divine law and spirit evinces itself in the hero-nature of Samson, almost against his own will.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
[Bush: “I wish,” says an old divine, “that Manoah and his wife could speak so loud that all our Israel could hear them.” By nothing is the heart of a pious parent more grieved than by the prospect of the unequal yoking of his children with profane or irreligious partners; for he knows that nothing is so likely to prove injurious to their spiritual interests, and subject them to heartrending trials.—Bp. Hall: As it becomes not children to be forward in their choice, so parents may not be too peremptory in their denials. It is not safe for children to overrun parents in settling their affections; nor for parents (where the impediments are not very material) to come short of their children, when the affections are once settled: the one is disobedience; the other may be tyranny.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][Keil: It is true that in Exo_34:16 and Deu_7:3 f. only marriages with Canaanitish women are expressly forbidden; but the ground of the prohibition extended equally to marriages with daughters of the Philistines. For the same reason, in Jos_13:8, the Philistines also are reckoned among the Canaanites.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v3Is there never a woman among the daughters of…
Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren--that is, "of thine own tribe"--a Danite woman.
Samson said . . . Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well--literally, "she is right in mine eyes"; not by her beautiful countenance or handsome figure, but right or fit for his purpose. And this throws light on the historian's remark in reference to the resistance of his parents: they "knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines"--rather, "from the Philistines"--originating on their side. The Lord, by a course of retributive proceedings, was about to destroy the Philistine power, and the means which He meant to employ was not the forces of a numerous army, as in the case of the preceding judges, but the miraculous prowess of the single-handed champion of Israel. In these circumstances, the provocation to hostilities could only spring out of a private quarrel, and this marriage scheme was doubtless suggested by the secret influence of the Spirit as the best way of accomplishing the intended result.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–3SAMSON’S MARRIAGE AND RIDDLE, Jdg_14:1-20.
SAMSON’S MARRIAGE AND RIDDLE, Jdg_14:1-20.
“Samson keeps his vow of abstinence from intoxication,” says Ewald, “but is all the weaker and wilder with regard to the love of women, as if he could here make up for the want of freedom elsewhere; and by a singular sport of chance, or, rather, by the secret revenge of a heart warped by the vow, his love is always excited by women of that very race which the vow urges him to combat with all the might of his arm, and on whose men the weight of his own strength always falls at the right time.”
Read full note →
1. Went down to Timnath — About five miles southwest from Zorah, and identical with the modern Tibneh. To reach it from Zorah one has to “descend through wild rocky gorges, just where one would expect to find a lion in those days, when wild beasts were far more common than at present.” — Thomson.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. Timnah] now Tibneh, about 4 m. S.W. of…
1. Timnah] now Tibneh, about 4 m. S.W. of Zorah, on the low hills of the Shephçlah: hence went down is the word for reaching it from Samson’s house (Jdg_14:1; Jdg_14:5; Jdg_14:7; Jdg_14:10), and go up, for the journey in the opposite direction, Jdg_14:2 and 1Sa_29:9. According to Jos_15:10 Timnah lay on the N. border of Judah (cf. 2Ch_28:18), and is assigned to Dan, ib. Jos_19:43 (P). It is mentioned in the Prism Inscr. of Sennacherib as one of the places which he captured after Altaḳu (Eltekeh), just before he ravaged Judah in 701 b.c., Keil. Bibl. ii. 92 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–3(1) To Timnath.—This town, of which the site still…
(1) To Timnath.—This town, of which the site still retains the name Tibneh, is perhaps the same as that in Gen_38:12, unless that be a town in the mountains of Judah, as Judah is there said to have “gone up” not as here, “down” to it. In Jos_15:10 it is assigned to Judah, but appears to have been afterwards ceded to Dan (Jos_19:45). The name means “a portion,” and is found also in Timnath-serah, where Joshua was buried (Jos_24:30).
Of the daughters of the Philistines.—This was against the spirit of the law, which forbad intermarriages with Canaanites (Exo_34:16; Deu_7:3-4). The sequel showed the wisdom of the law (2Co_6:14).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Timnath, or, more correctly, Thimnathah, as in Jos_19:43, a…
Timnath, or, more correctly, Thimnathah, as in Jos_19:43, a town in the tribe of Dan, the name of which survives in the modern Tibneh, about three miles south-west of Zorah. (Jud_1:13:2, note) It may or may not be identical with Timnath in Gen_38:12-14, and with Timnah in Jos_15:10. It appears to have been in the possession of the Philistines at this time.
Vers. 1-9. The link of the chain.
Read full note →
A swarm of bees light one day in the carcase of a lion which had been killed in the vineyards of Thimnathah. They construct their hive there, and make their honey. It was no doubt an unusual circumstance that the bees should form their hive in such a place rather than in a hollow tree, or the cleft of a rock, but beyond its interest as a fact in natural history nobody would have attached any importance to it. But this action of the bees was linked to curious antecedents, and to peculiar consequences. The lion had been slain by Samson, that mysterious person of gigantic strength, whose life is such a remarkable episode in the history of Israel; and Samson had been led to the spot where the lion was by his ill-regulated love for a daughter of the Philistines, who were the masters and oppressors of his country. And as to what happened after the swarming of these bees, the marriage of Samson to his Philistine bride took place after an interval just sufficient for the bees to have filled their hive with honey, and Samson on his way to the wedding, impelled by a natural curiosity to see the lion which he had killed, had turned aside from his path, and had eaten the honey which was strangely found there. It was the custom of the time and of those people to beguile the long hours of the idle wedding feasts with curious questions and strange riddles. In the gambling spirit which is such a frequent accompaniment of insufficient occupation, whether among the lazaronis of Naples or the wealthy nobles of modern society, such riddles were made the occasion of wagers, and such wagers often led to deadly quarrels. In the present instance Samson"s double adventure with the lion suggested to him the riddle, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." Baffled in their attempts to guess the riddle by fair means, they set on Samson"s wife to worm the secret out of him and divulge it to them. Samson at once perceived the treachery, broke with his wife, slew thirty Philistines, and took their spoil wherewith to pay the lost wager, and followed up the feud by successive slaughters of his enemies, thus preparing the way for the eventual overthrow of the Philistine domination. The point for our special remark is that a swarm of bees lighting on a particular spot was an important link in the chain of providence by which the destinies of a great people were guided to independence; and the observation is not only a curious one, but has an important bearing upon the difficult subject (see Homiletics, Jud 3:12-21) of the use made of men, and of men"s actions, in the providential government of the world. Samson in slaying the lion, and the bees in swarming in its carcase, did things which were links in the chain of events which God foresaw, or fore-ordained, as he did also the effects of Samson"s marriage with the Philistine. But just as the bees only followed their instinct in building their hive, so Samson, in fixing his affections on the Timnathite, and in attacking the lion, and in eating the honey, and in propounding the riddle, and in avenging himself for his wife"s treachery, was merely following the bent of his own inclinations and the leading of his own will, though in so doing he was bringing about God"s purpose for the deliverance of Israel. What, however, we have here to notice is the wonderful way in which God brings about his own purpose, and also the infinite foreknowledge of God. We look back, and we can trace the successive steps of causation, as one follows the other, like wave upon wave. But God looks forward from the beginning, foresees the effect of each cause in endless succession, and so orders them as to accomplish his own will. The most trivial events may be necessary links in the great chain; and while men are blindly following their own inclinations, with little thought and no knowledge of what will come of them, God is making use of them with unerring wisdom to work out his own eternal purposes, for the good of his people and for the glory of his own great name.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR. Vers. 1-4. Human desire overruled for Divine ends.
This incident in the life of Samson has a universal human interest. He no sooner comes to manhood than his destiny begins to determine itself. He sees a woman of the Philistines, and at once his fancy is captivated, and the strong natural desires of the young man overleap all the traditional restraints of God"s people. He manufactures a law for himself; "she pleaseth me well" may mean, "it is pleasing, or right, in my own eyes." The perplexity and distress of the parents, unaware of the meaning of this strange freak, so opposed to the future they had been led to imagine for their son. Notice
I THE FATALITY OF DESIRE. A sudden, unreasoning, and unreasonable passion is scarcely the augury one would expect for the career of a promised deliverer. A crisis in his moral history, a pivot upon which his whole subsequent life must turn. Sexual attachments are amongst the determining factors of human character and life, and the bases of society. Yet there are no circumstances of our life so independent of mere reason, and the power of the subjects of them. Still as a rule the outward realisation of such attachments is within the control of the individual. Recognition should be made of God"s share in producing them, and the matter should be laid before him. He has been blamed for "heavily loading the dice" in this matter for his own universal ends, and for wantonly subjecting the subject of passion to misery and disadvantage. Moral and intellectual progress are thus, it is said, indefinitely hindered. If it could be written, how full of light upon the moral and intellectual history of the race would be an account of the intermarriages of nations, the mesalliances of individuals! etc.
II THE ENTANGLEMENT AND PERPLEXITY IT OCCASIONS. Here it meant connection with the idolatrous and sensual life of the Philistines. The relatives on both sides could not be cordial. A relaxation of moral principles must ensue. Children would bring a fresh discord. How could a man so related lift up his hand against the Philistines? An instance like this throws strong light upon the traditional objection of God"s chosen people to intermarriage with neighbouring tribes and nations. It is not for nothing that it is written of Noah and of one and, another beside, And he was perfect in his generation. " "The daughters of Heth" are ineligible in the eyes of the patriarch"s wife for other than mere social reasons. There can be no doubt but that the same caution ought to characterise Christian parents in the alliances they encourage their children to make.
III THE FURTHER AND HIGHER MINISTRY OF DESIRE. Behind and beyond all this sinister appearance was the Divine purpose, he (Jehovah) sought an occasion from the Philistines. " God"s will is fulfilled in many ways, and by alternatives. When sin refuses to be put under then it can be utilised; and the end more completely served, albeit not to the immediate happiness or advantage of the guilty agent. How often "by a way they knew not" have the sons of men been led by an unseen providence to gracious ends. An ill-assorted marriage is a great calamity, but it may be the determining cause of important spiritual results, and by arranging a new relationship and set of conditions, prepare for a higher and nobler, though less immediately happy, development, of inward character. Thus the whole question of the determining force of sexual desire, which has been a matter of grief and despair to the pessimist, is capable of another interpretation. The past history of our race shows that "where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound." Let us not therefore despair before these mysterious fatalities and complications, but commit the way of ourselves and children into the hands of him "who seeth the end from the beginning," and who makes "all things work together for good" to them that love him. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v1Samson went down to Timnath.
Jdg_14:1-20
Samson went down to Timnath.
Read full note →
Samsons first love
In considering Samsons choice of a wife, we are conscious of a feeling of painful disappointment. In choosing a Philistine, we begin to see his lower nature acting the tyrant. But it were well if domestic history in modern times did not present many instances of similar stubbornness. In such matters, the fancy of young people is often the supreme law. Samsons falling in love was in the ordinary way: And he saw a woman of Tinmath, and she pleased him well. We do not wonder that his pious parents were astonished at his wish to take a Philistine woman to wife. They were national enemies. And the angel had said he should deliver Israel. They would therefore naturally inquire, How is this? Is our deliverance to begin with an alliance? We are not to touch anything unclean; our child is a Nazarite; and yet he wishes to marry a heathen! This is the beginning of the riddle. Is there never a woman among thy brethren? is the natural inquiry of such a father and mother. As he was so especially consecrated to God, it must have seemed peculiarly improper for him to make such an alliance. In seeking a Philistine wife, even in the most favourable view we can take of the affair Samson was treading on doubtful and dangerous ground. Their law expressly forbade the Israelites to marry among those nations that were cursed and devoted to destruction. It does not appear, however, that the Philistines were numbered among the doomed Canaanites. They were of Egyptian origin. The spirit of the Hebrew law, however, was plainly against such alliances, for the Philistines were idolaters and foreigners. It is true the law that forbade an Israelite to marry a heathen was a ceremonial law, or a police law--one that related to their national policy. It was not one of the laws of the decalogue. It was not a moral law. It might therefore be changed or suspended. But if the Divine prohibition against such an alliance was repealed for the time, making for special reasons his case an exception, how is it that the historian does not inform us of this fact? Why does not Samson tell his parents that the law is repealed in this case? There is not even a hint of any such thing. The match was of his own seeking. But God, seeing Samsons choice, determined to bring good out of it--he determined that his attachment to a Philistine woman should be overruled, so as to be the occasion of his beginning to deliver Israel. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Samsons marriage
1. That the people of God are liable to imperfections. They are human, though partakers of grace.
2. That our lusts and passions are to be resisted. Scenes of temptation ought to be avoided, and our greatest earthly joys ought to be regarded by us as pregnant with temptation, and be carefully watched.
3. That care should be taken in forming friendships or alliances.
4. That a crooked policy does not eventually profit. Samsons wife burnt by those to whom she betrayed her husband.
5. That God frequently works good out of evil; and that Gods purposes are frequently accomplished by means of persons and events apparently least adapted, or even most opposed.
6. That though God may pardon our sins, their consequences in this life are frequently irremediable. The Spirit of God came again upon Samson, but his eyes were never restored, and he perished in the destruction of his enemies. (J. Bigwood.)
The choice of a wife
Samson, the giant, is here asking consent of his father and mother to marriage with one whom they thought unfit for him. He was wise in asking their counsel, but not wise in rejecting it. Excuseless was he for such a choice in a land and amid a race celebrated for female loveliness and moral worth, a land and a race of which self-denying Abigail, and heroic Deborah, and dazzling Miriam, and pious Esther, and glorious Ruth were only magnificent specimens. There are almost in every farmhouse in the country, in almost every home of the great towns, conscientious women, self-sacrificing women, holy women; and more inexcusable than the Samson is that man who, amid all this unparalleled munificence of womanhood, marries a fool. That marriage is the destination of the human race is a mistake that I want to correct. There are multitudes who never will marry, and still greater multitudes who are not fit to marry. But the majority will marry, and have a right to marry; and I wish to say to these men, in the choice of a wife first of all seek Divine direction. The need of Divine direction I argue from the fact that so many men, and some of them strong and wise, have wrecked their lives at this juncture. Witness Samson and this woman of Timnath! Witness John Wesley, one of the best men that ever lived, united to one of the most outrageous of women, who sat in City Road Chapel making mouths at him while he preached! Especially is devout supplication needed, because of the fact that society is so full of artificialities that men are deceived as to whom they are marrying, and no one but the Lord knows. By the bliss of Pliny, whose wife, when her husband was pleading in court, had messengers coming and going to inform her what impression he was making; by the joy of Grotius, whose wife delivered him from prison under the pretence of having books carried out lest they be injurious to his health, she sending out her husband unobserved in one of the bookcases; by the good fortune of Roland, in Louiss time, whose wife translated and composed for her husband while Secretary of the Interior--talented, heroic, wonderful Madame Roland; by the happiness of many a man who has made intelligent choice of one capable of being prime counsellor and companion in brightness and in grief--pray to Almighty God that at the right time and in the right place He will send you a good, honest, loving, sympathetic wife; or, if she is not sent to you, that you may be sent to her. But prayer about this will amount to nothing unless you pray soon enough. Wait until you are fascinated and the equilibrium of your soul is disturbed by a magnetic exquisite presence, and then you will answer your own prayers, and you will mistake your own infatuation for the voice of God. If you have this prayerful spirit you will surely avoid all female scoffers at the Christian religion; and there are quite a number of them in all communities. What you want, O man! in a wife is not a butterfly of the sunshine, not a giggling nonentity, not a painted doll, not a gossiping gadabout, not a mixture of artificialities which leave you in doubt as to where the sham ends and the woman begins, but an earnest soul, one that can not only laugh when you laugh, but weep when you weep. As far as I can analyse it, sincerity and earnestness are the foundation of all worthy wifehood. Get that, and you get all. Fail to get that, and you get nothing but what you will wish you never had got. Dont make the mistake that the man of the text made in letting his eye settle the question in which coolest judgment directed by Divine wisdom are all-important. He who has no reason for his wifely choice except a pretty face is like a man who should buy a farm because of the dahlias in the front door yard. There are two or three circumstances in which the plainest wife is a queen of beauty to her husband, whatever her stature or profile. By financial panic, or betrayal of business partner, the man goes down, and returning to his home that evening he says: I am ruined! I am in disgrace for ever! I care not whether I live or die. After he ceases talking, and the wife has heard all in silence, she says: Is that all? Why, you had nothing when I married you, and you have only come back to where you started. If you think that my happiness and that of the children depend on these trappings, you do not know me, though we have lived together thirty years. God is not dead and if you dont mind, I dont care a bit. What little we need of food and raiment the rest of our lives we can get, and don t propose to sit down and mope. The husband looks up in amazement, and says, Well, well, you are the greatest woman I ever saw. I thought you would faint dead away When I told you. And, as he looks at her, all the glories of physiognomy in the Court of Louis XV. on the modern fashion-plates are tame as compared with the superhuman splendours of that womans face. There is another time when the plainest wife is a queen of beauty to her husband. She has done the work of life. She has reared her children for God and heaven, and though some of them may be a little wild, they will yet come back, for God has promised. She is dying, and her husband stands by. They think over the years of their companionship, the weddings and the burials, the ups and the downs, the successes and the failures. They talk over the goodness of God, and His faithfulness to childrens children. She has no fear about going. Gone! As one of the neighbours takes the old man by the arm gently and says: Come, you had better go into the next room and rest, he says, Wait a moment; I must take one more look at that face and at those hands! Beautiful! Beautiful! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
It was of the Lord.
God overrules evil for good
1. This verse has been very strangely and very unfortunately misunderstood by many. It has been thought to mean
(1) That Samson was moved by the Spirit of God to desire this marriage; and
(2) that Samson desired to enter into it for the purpose of finding occasion to quarrel with the Philistines.
2. This view seems open to three fatal objections.
(1) The silence of Samson about any such movement of the Spirit of God.
(2) It makes God inspire Samson to go contrary to the spirit of His own law.
(3) It is opposed to the whole spirit of the narrative, which impresses one with the idea that Samson was sincere in his passion.
3. The marriage was of God, as the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar or the treachery of Judas, inasmuch as He permitted it and overruled it for bringing Samson into collision with the Philistines, and introducing him to the grand work of his life. (Thomas Kirk.)
A young lion . . . and he rent him.--
Bodily strength
1. Physical strength is not an index of moral power. That this man was mighty the lion and the Philistines found out, and yet he was the subject of petty revenges, and was ungianted by base passion. Oh! it is a shame that so much of the work of the Church and the world has been done by invalids, while the stout and the healthy men, like great hulks, were rotting in the sun. Richard Baxter, spending his life in the door of the tomb, and yet writing a hundred volumes and starting uncounted people on the way to the saints everlasting rest. Giants in body, be giants in soul!
2. Strength may do a great deal of damage if it is misdirected. To pay one miserable bet which this man had lost, he robs and slays thirty people. As near as I can tell, much of his life was spent in animalism, and he is a type of a large class of people in all ages who, either giants in body, or giants in mind, or giants in social position, or giants in wealth, use that strength for making the world worse instead of making it better. Who can estimate the soul-havoc wrought by Rousseau going forward with the very enthusiasm of iniquity and his fiery imagination affecting all the impulsive natures of his time? Or wrought by David Hume, who spent his lifetime, as a spider spends the summer, in weaving silken webs to catch the unwary? Or by Voltaire, who marshalled a host of sceptics in his time and led them on down into a deeper darkness?
3. A giant may be overthrown by a sorceress.
4. The greatest physical strength must crumble and give way. He may have had a longer grave and a wider grave than you and I will have, but the tomb was his terminus. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Brawn and muscle consecrated
We are often told that people must give account for their wealth, and so they must; and they must give account for their intelligence, and so they must; but no more than they must give account for the employment of their physical organism. Shoulder, arm, brain, knee, foot, all the forces that God has given us are we using them to make the world better or make it worse? Those who have strong arms, those who have elastic step, those who have clear eye, those who have steady brain, those are the men who are going to have the mightiest accounts to render. What are we doing with the faculties that God has given us? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Resist the devil
Sudden, surprising danger is brought before us here. How true that is of the life of young men still. Are there not temptations that leap upon us--spiritual wickednesses that come upon us unawares? This Samson was going down to Timnath on thoughts of love intent, never dreaming of such danger. A young lion roared against him. I thank God for the roar--for the sins that are unmistakable. You know where you are. But what are we to do with such temptations? First of all, do not run. Samson had great strength; he could stand and fight till his weapon clave to his fist; but I rather think running was not in his line. There was only one thing death or victory; and he ran all risks, and flung himself on the brute. So with certain sins. Do not dally with them; do not dodge--you cannot. Do not try, as some one has said, to think them down. It is utterly impossible; it is neither philosophical nor anything else. There is just one thing to do--accept them. Take them as they are, in all their ugliness and all their ferocity, and do not be afraid, but by faith and prayer imbrue your hand in their blood. Grip them, bring them out, face them, and slay them before the Lord. And do it quickly; make sure work of it no half-work of these lusts, like springing lions, that war against the soul. See how heaven and earth are mingled in that conflict. In order to tell this story completely, you have to bring in the supernatural--The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. Now, that control by the Spirit must be known by us; His power must be experienced. Without Him ye can do nothing. Without Him, the lion-like temptations, or the snake-like temptations, will lay hold of you and destroy you. But with the Spirit of God you are invincible; you have got the secret of the old warrior in classic story, who as often as he touched mother-earth found his strength return to him. Stand, says Paul. How? you ask. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, he replies. But notice further, there was nothing in his hand. No sword, no staff. An adumbration, a hint of the New Testament again: The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. To the eye of sense, the most defenceless babe in London is the young fellow, full of flesh and blood, who wants to hold the faith and fear of Jesus Christ. Wonder of wonders! He is not defenceless. Marvel of marvels, joy of heaven, disappointment of hell, he is not overcome! There are men and women to-day living a kind of salamander life; living in the flame, with the roar of the lion, and the hiss of the serpent, and the rattle of the snake, for ever in their ears; and they are not dead yet, and they never shall be. Yet they have nothing in their hands. How, then, do they live when others are pinned to the earth? The Spirit of the Lord is with them. He told not his father or mother what he had done. For a young Christian that is very helpful. Samson had his fine points about him. Like a great many other giants, he was a modest fellow. He bore his honours meekly. You may be like Samson. You may be a deal stronger and brighter than your fellows, and you may be able to cope with difficulties that overwhelm others. Cope with them, and hold your tongue. Perhaps you have escaped a lot of things that others have not escaped. But remember Samson. He did not halloo; and it well became him, for he was not out of the wood. Take care; there is no cause for fear; but there is no cause for boasting. Then another word from the eighth verse: After a time he returned, and he turned aside, etc. The picture is Samson going on eating that sweetmeat, and being refreshed by it; and you see at once the application of it. Sin faced, mastered, becomes a very eating and drinking as we go on our way. See how the believers path is a path going on from strength to strength. Crucifying the flesh is honey-sweetness. Do this to your temptations: get at the honey in the heart of their carcase when you have slain them; thereby reading Samsons riddle, Out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong comes forth sweetness. (J. McNeill.)
The sweet memory of triumph
1. The victory over the lion of unbelief.
2. The lion of temptation.
3. The lion of a rebellious spirit.
4. Death, the last enemy, shall also be vanquished. (T. Davies.)
He told not his father or his mother.--
Estrangement from home influences
All this was bad and dangerous. For by the constitution of what I take to have been his passionately kind and cordial, as well as most murderously resentful nature, he must have company and friends, and even confidants; and not finding them at home, he must go and seek them out for himself abroad, and be thus ever in danger of casting himself into the arms of those who lure him only to destruction. If you are taking up with other friends more readily, and are begun already to be more communicative to other counsellors out of doors, shutting your mouth, because you are more than willing now to shut your ears to such godly counsel as, both by their natural anxiety and their Christian vows, they find it incumbent on them to give--if you feel impatient of such restraint, and would even presume to treat it not a little imperiously, having chosen for yourselves counsellors of another spirit, and more likely to concur with the desires and devices of your own heart, which are many, then just see here how like sleepwalkers, with eyes glistening and staring wide, yet visionless as the blind, are you treading now on the very brink of that hidden gulf, into which if you fall but once, it may be never to rise again. (John Bruce, D. D.)
Honey in the carcase.--
Honey out of the dead lion
I. It is through divine strength that victories are won.
1. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on Samson. God trains men for the work they have to do; if they are to be deliverers, saviours, then their training shall be physical--as in the case of Samson; his conflict with the lion would prepare him for repeated encounters with the Philistines.
2. It was when Samson was about to enter public life that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. It is in the freshness of youth, before the mind is saturated with worldliness and the heart incrustated with selfishness, that there are Divine visitations.
II. Life is the history of victory and defeat. A man may slay a lion, but have no control over himself; he may be physically strong, but morally weak. Many of our defeats are to be traced to our self-confidence and self-love, to our forgetfulness of God. If we have won any victories, they are to be traced to Divine grace and strength.
III. Past victories are not to be forgotten. On a subsequent occasion Samson turned aside to see the lion he had slain. God will not have us forget the past, or the way by which we have reached our present position (Deu_8:2-5). All our Sabbaths, and sacraments, and sermons, are always saying to us, Thou shalt remember. They remind us of the great victory gained for us by the Captain of our salvation, in which we are permitted to claim our part.
IV. We get strength and encouragement from the remembrance of past victories. If ever you have slain a lion, be sure that eventually it will yield you honey. You have overcome doubt--you have strengthened faith. You have vanquished sin--you have increased holiness. You have conquered fear--you have gained strength. We learn, too, that there is a Divine power ever at work in this world. From the secret place of thunder come forth the streams that make glad the world. The light is born in darkness. Good comes out of evil. (H. J. Bevis.)
Hands full of honey
What a type we have here of our Divine Lord and Master, Jesus, the conqueror of death and hell! He has destroyed the lion that roared upon us and upon Him. He has shouted Victory! over all our foes. To each one of us who believe in Him He gives the luscious food which He has prepared for us by the overthrow of our foes; He bids us come and eat, that we may have our lives sweetened and our hearts filled with joy. The Samson type may well serve as the symbol of every Christian in the world.
I. The believers life has its conflicts. Learn, then, that if, like Samson, you are to be a hero for Israel, you must early be inured to suffering and daring in some form or other.
1. These conflicts may often be very terrible. By a young lion is not meant a whelp, but a lion in the fulness of its early strength; not yet slackened in its pace, or curbed in its fury by growing years. Fresh and furious, a young lion is the worst kind of beast that a man can meet with. Let us expect as followers of Christ to meet with strong temptations, fierce persecutions, and severe trials, which will lead to stern conflicts. These present evils are for our future good: their terror is for our teaching.
2. These conflicts come early, and they are very terrible; and, moreover, they happen to us when we are least prepared for them. Samson was not hunting for wild beasts; he was engaged on a much more tender business. He was walking in the vineyards of Timnath, thinking of anything but lions, and behold, says the Scripture, a young lion roared against him. It was a remarkable and startling occurrence. Samson stood an unarmed, unarmoured man in the presence of a raging beast. So we in our early temptations are apt to think that we have no weapon for the war, and we do not know what to do. We are made to cry out, I am unprepared! How can I meet this trial? Herein will the splendour of faith and glory of God be made manifest, when you shall slay the lion, and yet it shall be said of you that he had nothing in his hand--nothing but that which the world sees not and values not.
3. I invite you to remember that it was by the Spirit of God that the victory was won. We read, And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. Let the Holy Spirit help us in our trouble, and we need neither company nor weapon; but without Him what can we do?
II. The believers life has its sweets. What is more joyful than the joy of a saint!
1. Of these joys there is plenty. We have such a living swarm of bees to make honey for us in the precious promises of God, that there is more delight in store than any of us can possibly realise. There is infinitely more of Christ beyond our comprehension than we have as yet been able to comprehend. How blessed to receive of His fulness, to be sweetened with His sweetness, and yet to know that infinite goodness still remains!
2. Our joys are often found in the former places of our conflicts. We gather our honey out of the lions which have been slain for us or by us. There is, first, our sin. A horrible lion that! But it is a dead lion, for grace has much more abounded over abounding sin. I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and as a thick cloud thine iniquities. Here is choice honey for you! The next dead lion is conquered desire. When a wish has arisen in the heart contrary to the mind of God, and you have said, Down with you! I will pray you down. You used to master me; I fell into a habit and I was soon overcome by you; but I will not again yield to you. By Gods grace I will conquer you--I say, when at last you have obtained the victory such a sweet contentment perfumes your heart that you are filled with joy unspeakable, and you are devoutly grateful to have been helped of the Spirit of God to master your own spirit. Thus you have again eaten spiritual honey.
III. The believers life leads him to communicate of these sweets. As soon as we have tasted the honey of forgiven sin and perceived the bliss that God has laid up for His people in Christ Jesus, we feel it to be both our duty and our privilege to communicate the good news to others. Here let my ideal statue stand in our midst: the strong man, conqueror of the lion, holding forth his hands full of honey to his parents. We are to be modelled according to this fashion.
1. We do this immediately. The moment a man is converted, if he would let himself alone, his instincts would lead him to tell his fellows.
2. The believer will do this first to those who are nearest to him. Samson took the honey to his father and mother, who were not far away. With each of us the most natural action would be to tell a brother or a sister or a fellow-workman, or a bosom friend. It will be a great joy to see them eating the honey which is so pleasant to our own palate.
3. The believer will do this as best he can. Samson, you see, brought the honey to his father and mother in a rough-and-ready style, going on eating it as he brought it. Carry the honey in your hands, though it drip all round: no hurt will come of the spilling; there are always little ones waiting for such drops. If you were to make the gospel drip about everywhere, and sweeten all things, it would be no waste, but a blessed gain to all around. Therefore, I say to you, tell of Jesus Christ as best you can, and never cease to do so while life lasts.
4. But then Samson did another thing, and every true believer should do it too: he did not merely tell his parents about the honey, but he took them some of it. If your hands serve God, if your heart serves God, if your face beams with joy in the service of God, you will carry grace wherever you go, and those who see you will perceive it.
5. Take note, also, that Samson did this with great modesty. In telling your own experience be wisely cautious. Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He told not them that he had taken the honey.--
Samsons silence respecting the honey
Two reasons may be given for it.
1. To secure that his parents might eat the honey. According to the ceremonial law, the honeycomb, from its having been in contact with a dead body, was unclean, and the likelihood is that, if the parents of Samson had known the fact, they would have refused to eat it. Such a motive for his silence would be indeed discreditable; but it does not seem likely that such minute particulars of ceremonial observance, in that degenerate period, would be present to the mind of a young man of about nineteen years of age.
2. The other reason--and probably the true one--is, that he might ensure the success of his riddle at the marriage feast. Samson was gifted with a quick wit and ready invention. He saw, as he walked along, how the circumstance of getting the honey out of the carcase of the lion might be turned into a riddle for the entertainment of his guests, and so, in order to make sure that no inkling of it might get abroad, he resolved to keep it a secret. He was manifestly a young man who could keep his own counsel. (Thomas Kirk.)
I will now put forth a riddle unto you.--
Samsons riddle
By the goodness of God those things which once appeared unpleasant or injurious become real blessings.
1. This general observation may be applied to those painful convictions and apprehensions which sometimes harass the minds of beginners in religion. Many who have felt the deepest sorrow for sin have afterwards possessed the greatest degree of religious joy, and have loved much, because they knew that much was forgiven. Thus, then, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.
2. The same may be said of divers temptations with which a Christian may be exercised.
3. It is the lot of many, of very many good people, to be poor. Yet, even here, they gather honey from the carcase of the lion; for their various troubles give occasion for the exercise of humble resignation to the sovereign will of God. Constant dependence upon God is thereby promoted. Thankfulness is another fruit of sanctified affliction; for such is the ingratitude of our hearts, that we are scarcely sensible of the value of our mercies but by the loss or suspension of them. Another advantage which may be gained from poverty is, that the Christian is led to seek the things that are above.
4. Apply this sentiment to the person who is grievously afflicted with severe pains and bodily afflictions. We have borne chastisement; we will not offend any more, then is the purpose of Divine goodness in the visitation accomplished (Psa_119:67; Psa_119:71).
5. Domestic trials may produce the same advantages (1Co_7:29-31).
6. The same may be said with regard to disappointments in our worldly affairs.
7. Persecution is another of those evils to which the people of God are exposed. As long as there are men born after the flesh, there will be hatred and opposition against those who are born after the Spirit. But out of this unpromising lion sweet honey has been procured.
8. The subject may even be extended to death itself. The death of Christ, though according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, was effected by the cruel hands of wicked men. But bitter as seemed this event to the disciples; what ever produced so much sweetness? Apply this also to the death of believers. Nothing to nature is so formidable as death; it is the king of terrors; and through the fear of it, many are all their lifetime subject to bondage. Such, indeed, is the carcase of the lion; but search and see: is there no honey within? Is there nothing to lessen the terrors of the tomb, and reconcile man to the grave? Yes; there is much every way. The sting of death is extracted. And not only so, but death is gain. The Christian leaves a troublesome world, a diseased body, a disordered soul, to be with Christ, to behold His glory, to be perfectly like Him.
Conclusion:
1. Let us be led to adore the wisdom and goodness of God in bringing good out of evil.
2. On the contrary, it is painful to reflect on the state of worldly and wicked men, who are unhappily so entirely under the power of sin and Satan that they continually extract evil even from good.
3. What an argument may we derive from this subject for the commitment of ourselves and all our concerns into the hands of an all-wise and all-gracious God! (G. Burder.)
Fruits of conflict
I. In the history of civilisation we see how honey comes from the lion, rich fruitage from conflict. Men at first dwelt in caves. Navies were then only in forests, and railways in the mountains. Mens necessities goaded to effort. Even in Eden sinless man toiled; much more must sinful man toil. Think of the poverty and pains of Elias Howe, through long years of weary effort, before he perfected the sewing-machine; of the obscurity and penury out of which the great emancipator came who rent the lion of American slavery and rescued the slave; and of Him whom we worship as the Saviour of the race--if you would justly estimate the value and significance of disciplinary trial.
II. The conflicts of the church illustrate the same. In the glens and on the moors of Scotland thousands have fallen martyrs in struggles against superstition, etc.
III. Individual history. You are a business man. The prosperity you have has been gained by toil. These are the sweets that came from the lion of poverty and toil. You are a parent, and have suffered tribulation in the loss of dear ones. Good comes out of it if you love God, somehow, as purity comes to the atmosphere after the thunderstorm. I saw recently, in the gallery of the Royal Academy in Edinburgh, the face of St. Paul painted with an encircling cloud full of angels. It held me as no other picture, and I thought that every cloud which darkens the believers way is full of angels, if he did but know it. Conclusion: There are three ways of conquering a foe--you may knock, talk, or live him down. Choose the last. Though others are bad, be yourselves good. (C. Easton.)
The wedding riddle and tragedy
1. I do not see anything wrong in Samson making a feast, as the young men used to do. It belonged to the bride and her friends to say what its details should be. In so far, then, as he could comply with the customs of her people without sinning we find no fault. The Bible does not require us to be proud, mopish, rude, supercilious, or ill-behaved. The want of genuine politeness is no proof of true religion.
2. At weddings it was common to have games, riddles, and the like amusements. An old scholiast on Aristophanes is quoted by Dr. Clark as saying that it was a custom among the ancient Greeks to propose, at their festivals, what were called griphoi, riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those who found them out, which generally consisted either in a festive crown or a goblet full of wine. Those who failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with sea water, which they were compelled to take down at one draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown to the deity in honour of whom the festival was made; and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given to him who proposed it. It were a much better way to spend our time at seasons of merry-making in expounding enigmas and riddles than in slandering our neighbours or in gluttony or excessive drink. At our weddings let there be entertainment for the mind, as well as employment for the palate. Our social habits and opportunities should be diligently employed in doing and receiving good. At the wedding all goes on merrily. Sport and play are in the ascendant. The cup-questions were as sparkling as the cups. Many were the passages at Wit. At last Samson is aroused. He says, I will propose a riddle. If they solve his riddle, he is to pay thirty changes of raiment. If they fail, they are to pay him one change of raiment apiece. Samson had an odd humour generally of pitting himself against great odds. No doubt he thought himself sure of victory.
3. The solution is given at the appointed hour. Josephus paraphrases the interview thus: They said to Samson, Nothing is more disagreeable than a lion to those that light on it, and nothing is sweeter than honey to those that make use of it. To which he replied: Nothing is more deceitful than a woman; for such was the perfidious person that discovered my interpretation to you. He meant, doubtless, that without the assistance of his wife they could not have told the riddle. And on this plea, he might have disputed whether they were entitled to the forfeit.
4. Though betrayed and badly treated, Samson scorns to complain, but goes right off to procure the means to pay his forfeit. He was neither a cruel husband nor a repudiator.
5. Samsons anger was kindled, and he went up to his fathers house. Anger is as natural as a smile. His wifes treachery was a just cause of anger, and his going up to his fathers house at this time showed unusual prudence and forbearance. When he returned to Timnath to pay the forfeit, he seems not to have seen his wife. But lordly as Achilles, and quite as angry and proud in his self-consciousness of unmerited wrong and impulsive ferocity, he strides off home to his father and mother. It was not wise for him to trust himself in his wifes presence when the sense of his wrongs was so warm within him. But Samsons wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. That is, she was given by her father and the chiefs of the town in marriage to his first groomsman. Although she had but little liberty in the matter, still no doubt she was glad the Hebrew was gone, and that she was the wife of his friend. How far Samson was justified in leaving his wife is not altogether clear from the text. Most probably he did not intend a final separation, although this was the result. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Samsons riddle
The pathway of life has many a lion in it, and our success and happiness depend very much on the way we deal with them. Nearly all the strongest men in our great cities had to encounter, early poverty and hardships; their limited education was got at the cost of self-denial, but learning was all the sweeter when they found it in the carcase of the slain lion. Had there been no Samson in all such young men they would have been frightened by discouragement into a helpless obscurity. One of the Christian leaders in New York tells us that he never has found greater enjoyment in his fine library than he found in the second-hand book which he purchased with his first shilling and read in his fathers rustic cabin. Every good enterprise has its lions. Things that cost little count little. When a handful of Christians undertake to build up a mission school in some wretched neighbourhood, or to build a church in some destitute region, they find difficulties roaring against them like the wild beast in the vineyard of Timnath. These obstacles endear their work to them. There is a spiritual enjoyment in the after-results of their hard toils that they never could have known if their work had been easier. A sermon heard in a frontier church, whose erection cost sharp sacrifice, after a ten-mile ride over a country road, has some honey in it to a hungry Christian. Did you ever face a lion in undertaking the spiritual reformation of some hardened sinner? And had you ever a sweeter banquet of soul than when you saw him sitting beside you at Christs table? Even the performance of a duty which presented a disagreeable front has a peculiar satisfaction in it. Captain Hedley Vicars encountered a shower of scoffs from his brother officers in the Crimean army when he was first converted. But he put his Bible on his table in his tent, and stood by his colours. Henceforth, the lion was not only slain, but there was rich honey in the carcase when his religious influence became a power in his regiment. Lifes sweetest enjoyments are gathered from the victories of faith. Out of slain lions come forth meat; out of conquered foes to the soul come its sweetest honeycombs. One of the joys of heaven will be the remembrance of victories won during our earthly conflicts. (T. L. Cuyler.)
Out of strength, sweetness
Strength and sweetness may be taken as in some way a formula of human perfection. They are qualities which may have a certain hidden connection and interdependence, and yet which men usually expect to find, not together, but apart. Sometimes it is the strength that makes upon us the first and deepest impression--as, for instance, in Luther, a man of gigantic force and grasp; before whose fixed will and undaunted perseverance the Papacy itself totters. And yet in the familiar talk which happily survives to tell what manner of man he was, how kindly he shows himself, how gentle, how full of domestic cheerfulness and mirth, how loving to little children! So perhaps in Luthers master, Paul, it is the strength which dared and endured so much that first makes its mark upon us: we marvel at the inexhaustible energy which founded so many churches, traversed the civilised world hither and thither, survived such various hardships, could know no pleasure, enjoy no rest, so long as an opportunity remained of speaking a word or winning a soul for Christ. And yet, as we look more closely, we note how this restlessly energetic apostle is still the prophet--I had almost said the poet--of Christian love; keeps his sway over mens minds by the charm of sweetness. On the other hand, it is peculiar to that type of character which we call the saintly to make an impression of sweetness, which diverts attention from the hidden strength within: that St. Francis should draw hearts of like pulse to his own, and live the centre of a brotherhood of love, we can understand; while that he should be a power in the Church for centuries, begetting spiritual sons through generation after generation, is a fact that startles us into the search for its explanation. But the consummate instance of this kind of character is the Master Himself. In Him men see and feel the sweetness, but they have to learn the strength. They are swayed, but so gently that they are hardly conscious of the force, which nevertheless they are unable to resist. These examples are all taken from the high places of humanity: let us look a little nearer home. We may admit without any difficulty that there is a strength which has no sweetness in it; which puts itself forth and strives towards its own ends, without caring what other forces it jostles against, or even what hearts it tramples on; which, wholly self-centred, goes on its way with all the hardness which comes of pure and unalloyed selfishness. But whether such strength is not in its nature partial and incomplete, whether its very lack of sweetness does not argue a certain narrowness of scope and meanness of aim, I will rather ask than pause to prove. With all the finest strength we associate the idea of magnanimity; and what we call greatness of mind has in it precisely the quality which I attributed to the powers of nature, of being concerned with things on the largest scale, and yet easily and unconsciously bending to things on the least. This, however, is not the point to which I chiefly ask your attention; but rather that, though there is a sweetness of disposition, undoubtedly genuine and lovable after its kind, which does not co-exist with force of character, the truest and noblest sweetness is that which cometh out of the strong. For this last is no mere yieldingness and flexibility of heart, which is willing to take men for their outward seeming and at their own valuation, but a keen and large discernment of what elements of nobleness are really in them; not a desire that the complicated machine of society should run smoothly, and unpleasant things be hidden out of sight, and a general pretence established that life holds no sin and is stained by no shame, but a true reaching forth towards the essential harmony in which all Gods world is compact together, an aspiration after the peace which comes of all places filled and all rights respected. (C. Beard, B. A.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1CRITICAL NOTES.— Jdg_14:1. Timnath.] This was a town on…
SAMSON’S FIRST DEALINGS WITH THE PHILISTINES
(Jdg_14:1-20.)
Read full note →
CRITICAL NOTES.— Jdg_14:1. Timnath.] This was a town on the frontier which, like many other towns had been at first assigned to Judah to subdue and occupy (Jos_15:57), but as Dan had too small a territory for its people, it and other towns were transferred to Dan. It is referred to in Jos_15:43, also in ch. Jdg_15:10. It was only a few miles from Samson’s mountain home, and though it should have all along belonged to the Israelites, the tribe whose duty it was to subdue it, failed to do so through unbelief: and now the usual bitter fruits are reaped.
Jdg_14:2. Get her for me to wife.] Heb. Take (לָקַח) Exo_21:9. Though Samson may have come of age
(18), it was customary for the parents to transact the arrangements, as they had the duty of paying the wife’s dowry to the parents of the bride. What is here recorded is a bad beginning for the public life of a man, who was chosen to be a deliverer of God’s Israel from their bondage. It has been suggested that it is only the briefest notices that are here given of his life, and there “may (as in Jacob’s case), have been in him many exercises of true piety which, if told, would throw another light on his character.” This, indeed, is not only possible but probable. It seems at any rate, that the reason for selecting the incidents here related to be put on record, was because this was the first occasion when he had the opportunity of showing himself as the public opponent of the Philistines. Indeed this is hinted at in Jdg_14:4.
Jdg_14:3. That thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines.] His parents remonstrated. They were astonished at the proposal he made, and began to reason. It was unnatural in itself, and it was in express opposition to the Divine law (Exo_34:16; Deu_7:3-4). But Samson being an only son would in all likelihood have been accustomed to carry all points his own way. For we are told that he prevailed on his parents to accompany him (Jdg_14:5.)
Jdg_14:4. His father and mother knew not that it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion against the Philistines.] This applies to Samson. Probably what took him down to Timnath at first was, that now being come of age it was time for him to begin the work he was raised up to do. For he had frequently felt the promptings of the Spirit of the Lord to begin the work. Now, therefore, as soon as he was entitled to go, he went to the camp of the enemy to “find some occasion” for beginning his work. Badly as the story tells for Samson, it would be to put a needlessly harsh construction on his conduct to say that he went simply on an idle stroll, or that he went in sportive mood. There is an important meaning in the statement that “he sought an occasion against the Philistines.” He went, not knowing what might turn up, but his object was not merely to enjoy himself or have a little pastime. He wished to find some opportunity of commencing the duties of his high vocation. But he went unguarded against temptation, both as to eyes and ears (Psa_119:37; Job_31:1; Job_31:7).
The Philistines had dominion over Israel.] The crushing character of this dominion and its infinite degradation may be learned from 1Sa_13:6-7; also 1Sa_13:19-21.
Jdg_14:5. And his father and mother.] They went against their better judgment, being overcome by his importunity.
A young lion roared against him.] Being near the vineyards, probably in the valley of Sorek (Ch. Jdg_16:4), famous for its vines (Jer_2:21; Isa_5:2), for the word Sorek means a choice vine.
Jdg_14:6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.] Gave him superhuman strength, as a pledge of what he might expect to receive when fighting against men.
And he rent him as he would have rent a kid.] With as much ease, for all power is of God and He can make the human arm stronger than the jaws of the lion. Samson seems to have strayed into the bush, when he may have met the lion perhaps in the pursuit of jackals or foxes, that were often found in vineyards (Son_2:15). His father and mother were not with him there. Hercules was most formidable in his wrestlings, but it was chiefly with beasts. Samson was raised up to be a conqueror of men. This passing encounter with a lion would never have gained him a high name in Israel even if frequently repeated. He had a mission to deliver God’s Church. It is to be noticed that the word used here for lion does not mean a whelp, but one that has attained its strength, and is full of the natural fierceness. פְפִיר means a terrible lion, one with a bloodthirsty character, or that has all its natural savageness of nature fully developed. Yet he tore its jaws asunder, as easily as he would have rent in pieces so slender an animal as a kid.
He told not his father and mother.] With all his self-will he seems deeply to have loved his parents, and where there is love there will always be some measure of respect. Hence he would not like to horrify them with the recital of so wild a story as the encounter with the lion. It might fill their minds with troublesome suspicions as to what he might do next, and so he would forfeit their confidence. Many would have boasted of such an exploit, and blazoned it abroad through the world. That was not Samson’s weak point. No one seems to have known of it for many months, until the solution of the riddle brought it out. He was not killed with vanity. The exploits of other heroes in their lion encounters were better known. Benaiah was known as the man who slew a lion in a pit in the time of snow. Wicker Von Schwabur, a hero in the time of the Crusades, killed a great lion with the sword near Joppa, and Godfrey, of Bouillon, stood his ground against a bear in like manner. The lion fight of the fabled Hercules, in Nemea, is also well known The Arabian Antar conquers a lion although the hero’s feet are fettered. But these two latter are little better than myths. There is one noble exception to the vain glory which accompanies any such heroic deed, in the case of the youthful shepherd of Bethlehem. But, indeed, both Samson and David might well have been afraid to boast of a power which was supernaturally given, and which showed the gracious protection of their covenant God.
Jdg_14:7. Talked with the woman.] According to usage free conversation between the parties was not allowed till the affiancing took place. With the interview he had with the young woman Samson was pleased, and wished the arrangement to proceed.
Jdg_14:8. An after a time.] Betrothing means giving one’s troth, or faithful promise to marry a a future time. This time was at least six months, oftener a year, or more, after betrothal, but during the interval the woman was considered as the lawful wife of the man to whom she was betrothed (Mat_1:18; Luk_1:26-27). It must then have been either several months, ora whole twelvemonth, after this ceremony, that Samson now went down to take his wife.
He turned aside to see the carcass of the lion.] It could hardly have been a twelvemonth, when the carcass lay there untouched all the time, even though it was not in the beaten path. As the hero passed near the spot the incident came into his mind, and under some pretext he left his parents for a little that he might look again on the scene of his memorable deliverance. This trivial circumstance was the leading of God’s providence, for something great came of it. He found all that was most perishable of the beast long since gone, and nothing but the skeleton left, in which, to his no small surprise, was a swarm of bees. Bees as a rule avoid both dead bodies and carrion. Bees are so careful to select clean spots for their place of settlement, that a dead carcass was about the last place where they might be expected to alight. In the present case, however, everything that was noxious about the dead body bad become long since dried up, both through lapse of time and the intense heat. Nothing of an offensive odour remained. There was no putrefaction.
Honey.] Debash, the ordinary word, or Dvash, as some would make it. Deborah using r for s is the word for bee.
Jdg_14:9. He took thereof in his hands.] There must have been an abundant supply, for he gave some both to his father and mother, as well as partook of it liberally himself. Had his parents known where it was found, they would have rejected it as being unclean.
Jdg_14:10. His father went down.] He only is mentioned as the head of the party, but the mother and other friends were doubtless there. Samson made a feast.] “There is a time to laugh and a time to dance, as well as a time to mourn and weep” (Ecc_3:4). This feast was on such a scale as to indicate wealth on the part of him who made it. It lasted seven days and embraced a large company. But it was customary, and to observe the custom was reckoned necessary to respectability.
Jdg_14:11. When they saw him they brought thirty companions to be with him.] These were called the “children of the bride-chamber” (Mat_9:15; Mat_25:1-12). But usually it was young women that went out to meet the bridegroom, while here it is young men that are mentioned. Also they were chosen by the bride’s friends, not by those on Samson’s side. Hence Josephus supposes they were chosen under pretence of doing him honour, while in reality they were meant to be a guard upon him (Josephus, Bertheau, Trapp, &c., &c.) The great strength of Samson must already have been begun to be talked about, and it must have been known, to some extent, that he was raised up to be a deliverer in Israel. This was quite in keeping with the phrase “they were with him.” They seemed to be friends of the bridegroom, yet may have been spies upon him in reality, and a band of men to overpower him, if any hostility should be displayed by him. This would be in keeping with their conduct described in Jdg_14:15.
Jdg_14:12. I will now put forth a riddle unto you.] Biddies were then, as now, much regarded as a means of amusement, or exciting interest on festive occasions. Thirty sheets (shirts) meaning clothes worn next the skin; and thirty changes of garments.] Costly dresses that were frequently changed (Gen_45:22). To propose such riddles at banquets by way of entertainment was customary among the ancient Grecians. Such clothes are referred to in 2Ki_5:5; 2Ki_5:22; Isa_3:6-7; Mat_6:19; Gen_45:22.
Jdg_14:14. Out of the eater came forth meat, &c.] The spirit of this statement which is antithetical is “Food came from the devourer, and sweetness from that which is bitter.”
But care must be taken not to push the antithesis too far. We must be guided by the actual fact, and also by the words of the text. The lion, to which the propounder of the riddle referred is distinguished not by bitterness, nor by sourness, but by strength, so that our English translation after all best corresponds with the fact-“out of the strong, etc.” This, too, is confirmed by the answer given in the solution of the riddle—“what is stronger than a lion?” Besides the word in the text (עַז) does not mean “bitter,” or “sour,” but “strong.”
Jdg_14:15. On the seventh day.] For three days they tried hard to solve it but without success. They then gave it up till the seventh, when, as a last resort, they began to press hard on Samson’s wife, threatening her with a terrible doom if she did not get the solution from her husband. “So doth the devil oftentimes do. Many a man’s head he breaketh with his own rib; and this bait he hath found to take so well, that he has never changed it since he crept into Paradise” [Trapp], This showed at once the baseness of their spirit, and the atrocious length in wickedness to which, if baffled, they were disposed to go.
Is it not so?] Meaning: You have called us to the feast, that by means of this riddle you might get from us all that we have. Your object has been to plunder us. Is it not so?
Jdg_14:17. And she wept before him the seven days.] A Jewish mode of speaking, meaning, unto the seventh day, or as some would make it, the rest of the seven days. It might simply mean, that, more or less with tears she asked him to tell her every one of the seven days, her motives being partly curiosisy, and still more, apprehensions of a disastrous issue to their hilarity should no solution be found. This would be intensely increased when, with loud voices, they threatened, as the time drew near, to burn her and her father’s house with fire unless she should find out an explanation—hence on the seventh day particularly, “she lay sore upon him” until lie told her. A woman’s tears are her arguments, which oftentimes prove more powerful than all the logic of the other sex. They reach the heart by a more direct route than the understanding. Alexander of Greece replied to one who sent him a long letter complaining of his mother’s conduct, “one tear of my mother’s will blot out a thousand such letters.”
She told it to the children of the people.] In this she proved a traitor to the interests of her husband, both because she was bound to consult his interests first, and also because she ought to have known that he was well able to defend her from all evil. Her affection was manifestly a mere pretence; but she was a true Philistine.
Jdg_14:18. Before the sun went down.] Sunset was the end of the day, and so they were within the mark. Their statement meant, that the meat came from an animal that was distinguished for devouring meat, not supplying it, and that the meat supplied was honey, the sweetest of all kinds of food.
If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, etc.] Samson in a moment detected the treachery, for no one else knew anything of the story which he kept studiously concealed; and he pointedly told them it was owing to their plotting with his wife that the discovery had been made. In a case of such palpable unfairness, he might have refused to acknowledge himself to be under obligation to stand by the original terms proposed, but rather than incur the suspicion of dishonour, he nobly resolved to pass by the affront, and to pay the forfeit agreed on, more especially as this would give him occasion to fulfil his mission for the smiting of the Philistines. This tends to raise him in our estimation, if we could get over his capital error in wedding a Philistine at all.
Jdg_14:19. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.] These impulses came when God had work for him to do, but were not always with him. The prophets had not always the gift of prophecy, nor the apostles always the power of working miracles.—(Trapp). Samson seemed to feel that his vocation was to smite the Philistines on every fit opportunity given. Now he felt he had such an opportunity, and he resolved to punish the enemy that had dared to attack the people of Jehovah, and to pour contempt on His name.
Went down to Ashkelon.] There were many nearer at hand, but these may have been ring-leaders in raids made on the homes of Israel, or, more likely, he did not wish to create too great a sensation about the matter by destroying members of families in the immediate neighbourhood. The persons killed must have been high in social rank, when there were so many changes of raiment. That which Israel’s champion flung at the feet of these vile cheaters was the attire of their own countrymen.
His anger was kindled, etc.] The base treachery of his wife on the occasion of their marriage festivity, the fact that her relatives supported her in her infidetity to him, and the apparent conspiracy of the whole Philistine community to give contemptuous treatment to an Israelitish family; all filled him with indignation, so that in place of returning for his wife he left the whole pack behind him, and directed his steps to his father’s house, a sadder but a wiser man. How sweet is home after a taste of the bitterness of the world! His home was in Zorah, which but for him would scarcely have been known to the world, just as Arpinum was known from its connection with Cicero, and Hippo was famous through Augustine.
Jdg_14:20. Samson’s wife was given to his companion, etc.] As soon as his back was turned, the unprincipled Philistine gave his daughter to be the wife of another man—the very man who had acted as the friend of the bridegroom! Such was the bitter fruit of an unhallowed alliance (Jer_2:19).
Before proceeding to examine the details of this wonderful history, it may serve a good purpose first to look at it in its leading outlines. The judgment to be formed on the whole character of any man cannot be correct, if founded only on one or two acts of his life, and pre-eminently so in a case like that before us. It will greatly help to a just estimate on this important point, as well as aid us in a correct interpretation of individual particulars, if we first take a general view of the history in so far as it is given, and then take the details in their order.
GENERAL VIEW OF SAMSON’S HISTORY
I. It presents to us a puzzling character.
It is a character where opposite and seemingly contradictory phases are continually appearing. In every page of the account, inconsistencies occur so painfully, that we are perplexed what to make of a personality so unique. From the preliminary statement made in chap. 13 by an “angel of the Lord,” we are prepared to expect a man of peculiar sanctity of manner, of strong spiritual life, and one singularly free from worldly defilement, to make his appearance when he comes forth as God’s servant to do God’s work, under a more than ordinary effusion of the Divine Spirit’s influence. But instead of that, the man who actually steps forward is one of a lower type than any name in the whole list of those who are called to be the “saviours” of God’s Israel. It would be hard to say whether he did more good or evil when fulfilling his course, though by profession he stood strongly on the side of good. Instead of being a frequent associate of the righteous, we find him almost constantly in the society of the wicked. For those who look on he is more a beacon of warning than an example for guidance and encouragement.
No good man indeed, is entirely free from faults so long as he remains “in this wicked worl.” (Ecc_7:20). Here, however, is the case of a good man with great faults, but without correspondingly great excellences. It was not so with the other good men of scripture history. If David sinned once very grievously in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, and not infrequently said and did things inconsistent with a profession of genuine piety, he left behind him an unmistakable expression of heart-sorrow for his great sin, besides a whole volume of compositions that no man could have penned, whose bosom was not daily filled with the very spirit of heaven. If Jacob showed not a little of cunning and deceit in the early portion of his history, the vision of the ladder and the angels, his wrestling with the angel, and the whole of the latter part of his career, bring out strongly redeeming features of character. But with Samson there are no Alpine heights of excellence, such as to prove beyond doubt the heaven-soaring tendency of the general character. There is only a little eminence now and again rising above the plain, to set over against the morasses and marshy ground which shed a pestilential vapour over the surface.
But undoubtedly Samson had his good points of character, though there was much in his conduct to be condemned. If he had a comparatively low place in the kingdom of God, it would be obviously wrong to suppose that he had no place there at all.
Notice—
1. The good features of his history.
(1.) He was specially raised up by God Himself. His very existence was owing to the fact that God had a special work to do, and he was brought into existence to do it. His mother was barren, so that he could not have been born without a special Divine interposition. His very being thus partook of a sacred character. He was indeed a member of the fallen human race and liable to sin like other men, yet being directly provided by God, being commissioned by Him to do a work which he purposed to do, and being specially qualified by Him for the performance of that work, he must have been in a proper sense approved by God. John the Baptist was thus raised up by God (Joh_1:6). So was Isaac (Gen_17:19; Gen_18:11). So was Samuel (1Sa_1:11; 1Sa_1:20). All these were holy characters. All inspired men were “holy men,” whether prophets or apostles (2Pe_1:21). Also all the “judges” of Israel appear to have been men who feared God, and wrought righteousness. It is questionable whether God ever called any wicked man into His service to do a work which had for its object the promotion of His glory. Balaam was indeed a wicked man, but he was not raised up by God, nor sent on a commission by Him. He was allowed to go to meet Balak with a wicked purpose in his heart, which God checked by turning the curse into a blessing. Judas was not honoured with a place among those whom Christ commissioned to set up His kingdom on earth, for he had left his Master’s side and had “gone to his own place,” before the commission was given. We have not a single instance of a really wicked man being specially raised up by God and sent to bless the people. This alone is a strong presumption, if not a decisive proof, that Samson, whatever his faults may have been, was at heart a man approved of by God.
(2.) The mission on which he was sent was of a holy character. It was to be the Deliverer and Protecter of God’s peculiar people. In reality he was sent to be the preserver of God’s cause in the earth; for the office of that people was to uphold the honour of God’s name, and to set up a standard for His worship among men. Is it likely, or even possible, that an ungodly man could be chosen by God for this purpose?
(3.) He was a Nazarite from the beginning to the end of his life. (Jdg_13:5) This implies that he was vowed to the Lord, and that his life itself was a consecration to the service of the Lord (comp. 1Sa_1:11). “This consecration had its roots in living faith, and its outward manifestation negatively, in absence from everything unclean, positively, in wearing the hair uncut.” [Keil]. The person of Samson wearing the character of a Nazarite was made use of by God as a picture, to show to His people, that their weakness lay in losing their character as consecrated to Him, and mixing themselves up with unclean persons and things, whereas, by vowing themselves to be His all life through, and jealously avoiding everything that would contaminate them as a holy nation, they would acquire a strength that would make them invincible. Samson was in this sense a parable to Israel. one put into this position by God Himself surely must have had the roots of a genuine religious character.
(4.) He was a child of prayer, and had a pious training. From Jdg_13:8-9 we conclude, that his father was accustomed to approach his God in prayer, in such a manner that his petitions were heard, for his difficulty he referred to Him, and his desire was granted. His prayer must have been well pleasing to God, and its being so on this occasion is a proof that it must have been so on other occasions. We may feel justified in regarding him as an “Israelite indeed,” for the whole account bears out that he was a righteous man. Not less so was his wife (Jdg_5:23). The honour conferred on them by the angel’s visit, and the special gift bestowed, prove this. Probably the gift of a son was in answer to their prayers, as in the case of Hannah. We may assume then, without being expressly told, that Samson had pious parents who were in the practice of prayer, and that they prayed much for their only son, so specially given.
As to his training, he could see nothing but good in such a household. The fear of God was in that home habitually, and being a mountain home it stood apart from the outside polluting world. The name of the true God alone was worshipped, and His laws were obeyed.
(5.) The Lord specially blessed him. We never hear of God conferring a special blessing on a man who did not bear something of God’s image. (see p. 471.)
(6.) The Spirit of God often came upon him. We admit the important distinction between the natural and the gracious operations of the Divine Spirit, the latter being the peculiar privilege of the righteous, while the former, not relating directly to salvation, might be given to those whose hearts are not right with God. Yet in another aspect of the case, nothing is more sacred than God’s own character, and when even the natural influences of the Spirit are given to preserve that, they are given for a sacred purpose, and so are fitly conferred only on those who are “chosen vessels” to the Lord.
It is certainly a strong presumption that that man is himself a man of God, on whom the Spirit of the Lord should descend so often as He did on Samson, for purposes which concerned the honour of the Divine name. The cases referred to in 1Sa_10:11, and Mat_7:22-23, are exceptional, and do not imply that these persons had a direct commission from God, to vindicate the honourof His holy name as Samson undoubtedly had.
(7.) He lived a life of faith in the God of Israel. This was the whole bearing of his life. Though having so much to do with the worshippers of other gods, it underlies his whole history, that he kept his trust in the one living and true God. He regarded himself as the “servant of the God of Israel,” and the Philistines whom he slew in such numbers he looked on as the “uncircumcised,” who had put forth unhallowed hands against the people who were under special Divine protection. There was thus a tone of reverence in the doing of his work. It was done to God, and for the honour of His name. Besides, he did not rely on his own arm for victory or deliverance, though that was exceptionally strong, but he looked to God as his buckler and shield, and ascribed to Him all the glory of the victories he gained. “Thou hast given this great deliverance to thy servant” (Jdg_15:18). This an ungodly man was not very likely to do. It is a sure proof of faith, as opposed to mere patriotism. The one has respect to God and His glory, while the other is concerned with our own glory, and that of the community with whom we are associated. The latter, though praiseworthy and to be commended, is of a greatly lower mark than the former.
The principle of his life was that of faith in the God of Israel, and hence we find his name put down in the list of those that are to be had in everlasting remembrance in the Church of God (Heb_11:32). As the basis of his conduct, he believed in God in all things, and took direction in life from Him, though frequently his practice was at variance with his profession.
II. The bad features of his history.
(1.) He became the intimate and frequent associate of the wicked. It is indeed a modifying element in the case, that his life-work consisted very much in being a scourge to the enemies of God’s Israel, and therefore, that it was his duty to look out for occasions when he might discharge this work, yet it is strange that we never hear of his asking counsel at the mouth of the Lord, for direction in the fulfilment of his duty. In the case of most others who were sent on a special mission by God, we find there was frequent communication between them and their God for direction in the way of duty, before they started on their course. This was the case with Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and Jephthah, not to mention other names. But here there is not a word of intercourse between God and His servant, before the latter embarks on his hazardous course. There is no prayer of any kind, by way of committing his steps into the hands of God, as in the case of Jacob (Genesis 28). Nor do we hear of any precautions taken to avoid the sunken rocks, and dangerous whirlpools of the voyage of human life before him. The instinct of a man whose piety had a healthful tone would have suggested the propriety of doing both these things before he entered on his work.
It was symptomatic of a low state of piety, when Samson, a young man, inexperienced in the ways of the world, went out alone into such a society as that of the Philistines, without special prayer, and without much of the spirit of watchfulness. We might add, he seems to have had no definite plan before him, as to what he should do. The lines are not indeed inapplicable—
“Satan finds some mischief still,
For idle hands to do.”
His visit to Timnath seems to have been aimless and censurable. This would make him all the more likely to catch infection from an evil atmosphere. The best supposition we can make is, that he went to see what God would set before him to do among these oppressors when actually on the ground. But he seems to have heard no voice calling to him in serious tones “enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.” (Pro_4:14; Pro_4:13; Pro_13:20; 2Co_6:14-17).
Two things are specially unfavourable in his intercourse with these wicked, of a general kind. one is, that he went among them as one off his guard. This he must have known to be wrong, for no charge was given to parents more impressively, than that they should teach their children to avoid the companionship of the heathen around them. And Samson’s parents were least of all likely to forget this in the case of an only son, and one who was a Nazarite from his youth up. The other unfavourable feature is, that he spent the most of his public life among the idol-worshippers. A healthful spirituality of character repels all close intercourse with moral evil. “Gather not my soul with sinners, &c.” (Psa_16:3; 2Co_6:14; Psa_26:5; Psa_119:63; Psa_119:158). He had indeed much to do in the way of chastising these people as a matter of duty; and it is to his credit, that, though he stood among them alone, he was never tempted for a moment to renounce the God of Israel, for the sake of joining with them in their idol-worship. Yet it is a matter of sorrow, that we never hear of this champion of God’s cause associating with any other class of men but these uncircumcised.
(2.) His intermarriage with a Philistine family. (a.) This was a breach of a solemn law laid down by God. Before the chosen people entered Canaan, they were expressly and repeatedly informed, that the inhabitants of the land were to be destroyed judicially because of their enormous wickedness, that they must not associate with them as friends, or even as neighbours, and much less were they to think of associating with them by marriage relationships. This was said especially of seven nations that are specified by name (Deu_7:1-4; Jos_23:12-13). See above on Jdg_3:6-7. The Philistines are not mentioned by name in this list, yet they belonged to the same class of nations, and were guilty of the same sins. All the reasons for keeping aloof from the Canaanites applied equally to these Philistines. Intermarriage with a Philistine therefore, was an act of disobedience to a Divine command.
(b.) It was an express dishonour done to the name of God. All who were jealous for the honour of God, were bound to make a loud protest against the manner in which that honour was laid in the dust by these profane idol-worshippers. To stand by and look on with unconcern, while the greatest indignity was done to the name of the great Jehovah, was itself to incur the heavy expression of the Divine displeasure. Much more heinous was the conduct of those, who should join hands in the fastest friendship with the blasphemers of that holy and dreadful name. There was no middle course in such a case. “The friendship of the world was held to be enmity with God.”
(c.) It was to bring a blight on one’s personal religion. It exposed one to strong temptations every hour of the day—to love the creature more than the Creator. The situation was so perilous to one’s stability of principle, that not even the strongest built-up religious character could resist the aggressions of evil influence constantly coming in, without the help of the grace of God in keeping the feet from falling. A man’s greatest enemy in such a case was one of his own house, and even of his own bosom. True piety to the God of Israel could not possibly flourish, in a circle where a believer was joined in wedlock with an idolater. “No one can serve two masters.” And so it turned out, that these unnatural intermarriages always led to apostasy from the living and true God.
(3.) His deeds of blood and revenge. one of these was his visit to Ashkelon, and there putting to death thirty men in cold blood, all of them unknown to him, and who had done him no harm. His only motive was, to find the rich dresses which he required to pay the costs of his wager. Again we see him, in mad anger, burning the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives, over many acres of the best part of the country. On two other occasions he makes a great slaughter among the Philistines, the motives of which are revenge. In these and similar deeds which are recorded, he doubtless fulfilled his vocation so far in punishing that oppressing people for their cruelty to God’s Israel; but, in most cases, the immediate reason he had for these steps was his desire for revenge. In so far as that was his prompting motive, it cannot be justified.
(4.) His licentiousness. This has usually been reckoned the great blot in Samson’s character, and on looking at all the facts given in the record, we see no other conclusion possible than that, to a certain extent, he is fairly chargeable with it; not that he was a habitual libertine, but being of impulsive character he was liable to fall before temptation. The account given in Judges 14 is not conclusive, for though he loved a woman in the Philistine city of Timnath, he appears to have acted honourably in wishing to be married to her, according to the rules of propriety then generally recognised. His error in this chapter consisted chiefly in wedding a Philistine. But his conduct as detailed in Judges 16 is altogether inexcusable. Impurity between the sexes is a sin condemned alike by the moral instinct of every rightly constituted mind, and by the express denunciations of the word of God.
That this is one of the grosser sins needs no proof. In regard to no sin has God implanted a deeper sense of shame than this, nor has any been surrounded with a stronger natural restraint to prevent its commission. It implies, too, the subjection of the spiritual element in our nature to the animal, or the ascendancy of the bestial over that which we have in common with the angelic nature. No wonder that a deep shadow falls on the name of Samson, from what is here recorded. But yet serious mistakes have been made.
II. How are we to judge this character?
No man’s sins should be looked at in the abstract, or apart from the cloud of circumstances, under which they have been committed. There are always considerations which will either deepen or lessen the criminality of the case in hand, though in no case can the criminality of a really sinful act be entirely taken away.
(1.) It is but a specimen of the conduct, not the whole life that is given in Scripture. We have indeed but nine special acts recorded from first to last each of which could not have occupied much time in the transacting. But he had twenty years of public life, and from these nine acts, we are left to judge of the character of the whole life. Doubtless, in so far as such a small number of acts could indicate the spirit of the man’s life, we must hold the selection to be well made; yet, we must not forget, that in so long a history many things must have been said and done, which, if all had been told, would have presented a much wider basis of judgment than is actually afforded. The severest brevity is necessary in a book like the Bible, which, touching on so many points, must yet be compact enough to be portable. What is selected for notice, however, is always such as to give a just idea of the real character. There must, however, have been a much larger number both of good deeds and bad deeds in the whole life.
(2.) We must remember the age in which he lived. It is not easy to ply one’s boat against the stream, and especially when the stream has become a rapid current. Those times were greatly degenerate, so much so that the moral mainspring of the nation seemed to be broken. Though severely smitten, backsliding Israel knew not how to return to their God. With the exception of a few little arks of preservation here and there, iniquity, as a mighty flood, had overspread the land. The religious light was dim; indeed, in some places, it seemed as if the lamp of God had gone out, and the nation were groping in darkness. Immorality of all kinds was so common that it was little regarded. It is manifest that temptations to sin in such an age were far stronger than when the moral standard stood high, and powerful restraints were raised up on all hands to any transgression of the Divine law.
(3.) His mission led him to associate much with the wicked. We believe he was too often and too long in the atmosphere of evil, and all too little in the companionship of the good. For though the pure circles were few and far between, they did exist as “lights shining in a dark place.” Yet if his mission practically, really was to harass the oppressors of Israel, and to be a bulwark against their attacks, it was necessary for him often to meet with them. This exposed him to much danger, and required much prayer and much watching to protect him from the evil influence. His error seems to have been that he placed himself too little under the Divine guidance, and in the Divine keeping. Going down to Timnath for the first time, a perfect stranger, a scene rank with moral malaria, he ought to have “prayed without ceasing,” in the spirit of the words, “lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” In an unguarded moment, through the eye the heart is led captive, and quickly he is ensnared to enter into marriage relationship with the member of a heathen family. one has said, “it is needful to set a strong guard on our outward senses, for these are Satan’s landing places, especially the eye and the ear.”
(4.) He had certain weak points in his character. Scripture itself speaks of the “sin which easily besets us,” it may be on account of our natural temperament or disposition, or on account of training or force of temptation. Some have a special tendency to pride, others to selfishness, some to ambition, others to avarice, some are prone to jealousy others to deceit and double dealing, some are inclined to detraction, others to stealing and circumvention, some are given to prevarication, others to evil speaking, some are addicted to excess of wine, others to impurity. This last appears to have been the fatal weakness of Israel’s defender, which though it does not palliate his sin accounts for its commission. When a man has a constitutional tendency to any sin it requires a greater effort for him to resist the downward tendency. “Satan, like a skilful angler, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish.”
(5.) He did not realise the danger of his position. This may have arisen partly, from his youth and unacquaintance with the lures and enticements of the world; partly, from his conscious strength, which led him on no occasion to fear the face of man; partly, from a certain self-willedness, owing to his being an only son, and being accustomed by his parents ever to have his own way; from various causes he seems not to have realised his danger, until he actually fell into the traps which Satan had laid for the unwary bird. How differently it might have fared with him had he daily, and even hourly, come to the Throne of grace, to find grace to help him in the measure of his need. But he seems not to have reflected that he was on an “Enchanted Ground,” that the poison of the old serpent hung in sparkling drops on every blade of grass, and that every potion he put to his lips was drugged. May God grant that we all have both eyes and ears wide open while we are still treading so dangerous a territory.
III. The need of caution in judging religious character.
To judge of any man’s moral or religious character is to tread on extremely delicate ground. The right to pass any judgment at all is more than questionable, and the range within which it may be allowed is extremely limited. “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.” “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” But where the right is exercised, in few cases we believe have more shallow, inconsiderate, unjust, and unnecessarily severe judgments been formed of any one’s religious character, than in that of the man brought before us in these pages. How many judge him as if he had passed life in the light of modern times, as if he had no, or few disadvantages, and as if there were nothing trying or peculiar in the situation in which he was placed! How many regard him as one of the worst of men, a disgrace to the nation to which he belonged, one who habitually indulged in debasing vices, and altogether unfit to enter into the kingdom of God! Some even go so far as to say, that, because this name stands in the list of the men who became famous through their faith, therefore the whole list must be condemned as not necessarily a list of religious men. In the life of this man they see nothing but dark passions, foul associations, and ungodly practices.
That Samson’s character was one, which in many respects is not to be imitated, will be admitted by all; that many of his acts must be severely censured is at once conceded, but that he plunged systematically into all manner of excesses is not on the record. It is overlooked by the censors, that he was commissioned by God Himself to do a great work for His church and people, that, though he was severely punished for his sins, his last cry for help was granted, and that it is a dangerous thing to denounce a man utterly whom God does not cast away. That he had certain bright sides of character is also undoubted.
There is need of caution in this matter, because—
(1.) We ourselves are transgressors. This circumstance alone should make us hesitate. Were we pure and spotless like the native sons of light, there might be some propriety in coming forward to denounce those who have blemishes and imperfections of character. But, as the case stands, with what force may it be said in the case of many, “Wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself.” If we stand clear of the grosser sins in the catalogue, are we not all rebels against God’s authority, and wanting in love to Him with all the heart, soul, strength and mind? Have we not, all of us, reason to be ashamed to lift up our heads before the holy, because of our spiritual vileness and ungodliness? Who among us has not lost character in the universe of the holy? What presumption is it then to come forward as critics of the character of others, when, in the most essential features we have lost our own!
(2.) It is not our province to judge others. We are not judges but subjects of judgment. This is true of all men. It is a species of impertinence of the worst kind. It is more heinous still, when one goes the length of daring to say what ought to be the treatment which should be measured out to a man by the Judge of all the earth, and whether he should be admitted into the kingdom of the holy or not. We fear that were the issues to be according to the verdicts which men pass on each other’s characters before God, the final heaven would be a thinly-peopled home (Jas_4:11-12). God alone is Lord of the conscience, and it is “by Him that actions are weighed” (Mat_7:1-2).
(3.) It is sinful to judge in a light spirit and without a due sense of responsibility. Many thoughtless people find it so easy, and indeed so congenial an exercise for heartless natures, to sit in the chair of judgment, that it does not occur to them that there is responsibility in the opinions they express. They do not reflect that no more deadly stab can be given to a fellow creature than when they throw out aspersions against his moral or religious character. Those aspersions may be utterly futile in producing any injurious effect, but it is only because of the weakness of the hand that throws them, and not that the weapons used are less deadly in character, or that there is any lack of intention to do evil. Such persons do not reflect that they assume the unenviable office of being the murderers of the characters of others, who are not only unjustly accused by them, but who may be all the while within the kingdom of heaven, while the accusers themselves are standing without. In all cases, great is the responsibility of using an unbridled tongue in speaking of the religious character or conduct of others. What should we think of a man taking liberties with his neighbour by shooting darts into the apple of his eye?
(4.) It is by the whole character that a man is to be judged. In every good man there are faults and also redeeming features. There is the “old man,” and also the “new man.” “Men are to be estimated by the mass of character. A block of tin has often a grain of silver, but still it is tin, and a block of silver may have an alloy of tin but still it is silver. The mass of David’s character was excellence, but with alloy.” It is a very great fault in any man himself when he can see nothing in his neighbour but faults, or when, because of the faults he sees, he presumes that there can be no excellences. Those who busy themselves in finding motes in the eyes of others, generally have a beam of no small dimensions in their own. Perfection even in the best of God’s people, does not exist in this world. Every good man is here in a transition state, The leaven of holiness has begun to work, and in due time will leaven the whole mass, but not as yet; so that, however much to be deplored, and however great the guilt implied, sin may be expected to break out, more or less, through strong temptation, or when one neglects to pray and be on his guard.
(5.) We have a very partial knowledge of the character of others. We look only “on the outward appearance, the Lord alone looketh on the heart.” Our best practical rule is, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Yet that rule applies only for practical purposes in our dealings with men. It does not reveal the motives and aims of action, nor tell the “secret thoughts and intents of the heart.” A man’s character is often misconstrued by his fellow men. There is an inner life going on which is little indicated by the external manner, until a special time comes round, when particularly testing circumstances occur, and bring to light what was never supposed to exist. The secret springs of a man’s character are known only to the all-seeing eye. Hence the great need of caution in forming a judgment, lest while looking only at what appears, we should make a serious mistake as to what exists in reality.
(6.) It is not the greatness of a man’s sin that finally decides his character, but his impenitence. Sin is never to be otherwise than severely condemned, and the greater the sin is, the more emphatic must the condemnation be. Yet, great as the distinction is between what might be called the least sin, and the greatest sin, that distinction is small compared with the difference between the least sin and no sin. The former is a difference of degree, the latter is one of principle. So great a matter is it to find an expiation for sin in the principle of it, that when that is found, the difficulty is got over in expiating sin in any degree of it. Let a sin be ever so great, it can be expiated by that which suffices to atone for the principle of sin. Hence the greatness of a man’s sins, however much they are to be execrated, will not block his way to receive pardon, provided there is suitable penitence.
But we fear there is less likelihood of penitence in the case of wilful and known sin. It is also more provoking to God, and it puts a deeper stamp of reproach on the character in the eyes of fellow man. Yet it would be highly derogatory to the value of Christ’s blood to say that it could not wipe out the stain of the greatest sin, if the sinner takes refuge in that blood, and turns from his sin unto God, with endeavour after new obedience. It is not the greatness of the sin that finally condemns anyone, but the not repenting of sin. Neither is it the greatness of the breach a man makes in God’s laws that finally determines what his state is to be, but his obstinate continuance in impenitence.
HOMILETIC REMARKS ON CHAPTER 14
I. The need of watchfulness in the enemy’s country.
(1.) Because the enemy himself is ever awake. Saul would not have slept in the trench had he known that David was so near. Sisera would not have laid down to rest had he seen the nail and the hammer in the hand of Jael. “Hannibal is at the gates!” was enough to keep all Rome awake; and so the warning, that “the roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour,” may keep us all, and always on our guard (Mat_24:43).
(2.) There is much evil latent in the heart. On that evil within a man Satan plants his temptations. Here was his difficulty with the Saviour—“the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me”—nothing on which to plant his enticements to sin. Were there no traitors in the camp, the danger would be less; but there is gunpowder lying all about in our case, and one spark is enough to create an explosion. “There is a secret disposition in every man’s heart to sin. Temptation does not fall on one, as a ball of fire on ice or snow, but as a spark or tinder, or lightning on a thatched roof, which is at once on flame (Jas_1:14.) The fowler lays the snare, but the bird’s own desire betrays it into the net.”
(3.) The beginnings of evil lead to more. A few drops oozing through an embankment may make a passage for the whole lake of waters. Little sins if allowed are the beginnings of great ones. In robbing a house, thieves put in a little boy at the window, whose work is to open the door and let them in; so the tempter, in rifling the soul, employs temptation to some smaller sin, which, little though it be, is sufficient to unlock the bars of conscience, and prepare for the commission of gross crimes. A pore in the body may be a door wide enough to let in a disease.
(4.) The path of duty sometimes leads close to the edges of sin. It was Samson’s duty to have to do with Philistines. It required sharp looking round about on all sides, to avoid the darts of the wicked one. “It is not safe to bring gunpowder within the reach even of a spark; nor is it wise, however dexterous your driving, to shave with your wheels the edge of a beetling precipice; nor is it without the greatest danger, in the best-built bark that ever rode the waves, to sail on the outermost rim of a roaring whirlpool.” “Many a duty lies between Scylla and Charybdis. Faith cuts its way between the Mountain of Presumption, and the Gulf of Despair. No truth but has some error next door.” Examples in Samson, Joseph, Jephthah, David, etc.
(5.) We must watch all round. “The city cannot be safe unless the whole line be kept. It is all one whether the enemy breaks in at the front, flank, or rear of an army; or whether the ship be taken at sea, or sink in the haven when the voyage is over. The honest watchman doth not limit his care to the house or street, but walks the rounds and compasseth the whole town. So the whole man must be watched. A strong guard must be set about the outward sense, for these are Satan’s landing places, especially the eye and the ear.” Neglect of this was Samson’s mistake (Job_31:1; Psa_101:3; Psa_141:3-4). “There is a white devil of spiritual pride, as well as a black devil of fleshly lusts; and if only Satan can ruin us, it is all the same to him by what engines he does it; it is all the same whether we go down to hell as gross carnal sinners, or as elated self-righteous saints.”
(6.) We must watch at all times. There are times of special danger, as for instance after great manifestations of the Divine love. There is danger of being lifted up with pride, and so falling into the condemnation of the devil (2Co_12:7 etc.; Luk_22:31-32). “As a pirate sets on the ship that is heavily laden, so when a soul has been filled with spiritual comforts, the devil, full of envy, will keep shooting at him to rob him of all. After great services, honours and mercies, there are critical times of danger. Noah, Lot, David and Solomon fell in these circumstances. Satan is a footpad who dares not attack a man going to the bank, but when returning with his pockets full of money.”
II. Man’s sin often overruled by God for His people’s good.
It was sinful for Samson to form a family connection with these God-despising heathens. Yet God overruled this sinful step to bring about the deliverance of Israel from their oppressors. “It was of the Lord” to allow Samson to follow his own natural inclinations, that out of the events which naturally followed, occasion might arise for the chastisement of these cruel and ungodly men. Joseph’s brethren sold their brother into Egypt as a slave. They “thought evil towards him, but God meant it for good, etc.” (Gen_50:20). Pilate and the Jewish rulers took “with wicked hands and crucified” the Lord of glory, to gratify their own malice and sinful purposes, yet God overruled this greatest of sins for the purpose of fulfilling what had been spoken by all the prophets from the beginning of time, that Christ should suffer in men’s stead and so open the way for their becoming reconciled to God. All the calamities which befel Israel from time to time, through the invasion of surrounding nations, each a most afflictive scourge while it lasted, though prompted by malice, envy and lust of power, were yet overruled by God to discipline His people, to prevent their falling into apostasy and to preserve them on earth as a God-fearing nation.
III. The difficult battle which some have to fight in fulfilling their duty to their God.
Samson’s lot was to fight these Philistines, and with carnal weapons. At that time too the Philistines had the upper hand, while Samson must combat them all alone. Every man has his post assigned him all over the field. Some like David or Jephthah have to occupy for a long time the position of outlaws, and to show their fidelity to their God at the head of bands of lawless men. Others like Jonathan have sometimes to meet a whole army in the field, though all alone. Others like Elijah have to stand up and reprove a whole nation with their king at their head, and require them to engage in immediate repentance. Still others, like Moses, had to conduct a murmuring and stiff-necked people for forty years through a barren wilderness. And the first preachers of the cross had to stand forth and proclaim in the ears of a proud and rebellious world the most humbling and unpalatable of all truths, as the only road to pardon of sin, and hope for the eternal future. Indeed no lot in Christ’s service is without a cross. Self denial is the general law (Luk_14:26-27); but there is a blessed compensation (Luk_18:28-30).
IV. Those who are in Divine keeping receive special strength amid special dangers.
Just as God encouraged Moses when entering on His service, first by turning his rod into a serpent, and then by turning the serpent into a rod; and, as He encouraged David in like manner, by enabling him to slay both a lion and a bear, as a pledge of future victories in God’s service, so now is Samson fortified against the dangers of his future career. He was destined to have many encounters with human lions, and now a picture is presented to him of the success which would crown his efforts in the fight. “The beast came bristling up his fearful mane, wafting his raised tail, his eyes sparkling with fury, his mouth roaring out knells of his last passage, and breathing death from his nostrils at the prey before him. But the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson. He that made the lions to stand in awe of Adam, Noah, and Daniel, now subdued this strong animal before Samson, so that he tore him in pieces as he would have rent a slender kid. And if his bones had been brass, and his skin plates of iron, it had been all one before a man who received the strength of Omnipotence for the moment.” [Hall.]
“If the roaring lion of hell should find us alone among the vineyards of the Philistines, where is our hope? Not in our heels, he is swifter than we; not in our weapons, we are naturally unarmed; not in our hands, for they are weak and nerveless, but in the Spirit of that God by whom we can do all things, who giveth power to the faint, and, to them that have no might, increaseth strength. There is a stronger lion in the believer than that which roars against him.” [Hall.]
God gives assurance of such succour to all His people (Deu_33:25). Thus it was with Paul (2Ti_4:17-18; Php_4:13); with David (1Sa_17:34-35); with Jeremiah (Jer_20:11); with Daniel (Dan_6:22); with the Saviour Himself (Isa_50:6-7); with all Christ’s people (Isa_40:29-31).
V. Those who do the mighty deeds of faith are the least disposed to boast of themselves.
The conquest over the lion was gained we believe through faith. When the Spirit of God came mightily on any of those who were specially commissioned to do God’s work, it was always accompanied by the exercise of strong faith on the part of the chosen instrument. He looked only to God for the needed strength (Psa_118:6-14; Psa_18:29-36; Psa_71:16). Samson himself, though conscious of a far greater than the ordinary measure of a man’s strength, yet never boasts of that strength as his own, but on one special occasion expressly ascribes the deliverance given to the hand of God (Jdg_15:18). That we take as an example of what he always did; for the few particulars recorded respecting him are always to be understood as a specimen of how he did in many other cases which are not recorded. Though it is not expressly mentioned in other cases that he did his exploits through faith, or immediate application to his God for promised strength, the fact that it is expressly mentioned in one case is an indication of what it always was with him. And this is confirmed by the fact that his name is given in the list of those who “obtained a good report through faith.” He as well as Daniel may be said to have “stopped the mouths of lions.”
Yet he did not tell the world of this great deed. He felt that the glory was not due to him but to his God. Therefore he was silent, not telling even his parents, but keeping the matter locked up in his bosom as a profound secret for many a day. Most men would have blown the trumpet loud and long, and used every means to get their names inserted in the roll of fame. If there were some degrading elements in this character there were also some that were truly ennobling. It was Christ-like to make little of the world’s applause. After performing His mighty works, our Lord for the most part withdrew into a desert place, or retired to the mountain side, to spend the night in prayer to God—a beautiful index of the direction in which the needle of the heart pointed. Deep waters make the least noise. Samson probably talked of this matter to his God also, unseen by the world. (Compare Paul’s keeping as a secret for fourteen years the greatest honour ever conferred on any man in this life as detailed in 2Co_12:1-12).
VI. God sometimes stores up comforts for His people where they would least expect to find them.
In that typical age every thing was full of instruction. There was a lesson in the discovery made so unexpectedly of honey in the carcass of the lion. After so hard a struggle, in which the Spirit of God came to his help, the result is a feast of honey! Honey is honey still, though found in the lion’s carcass. In God’s service “the bitter comes before the sweet,” and that, says Bunyan, “makes the sweet the sweeter.” Joseph’s hard lines in being sold, and in leading a prison life for-years, with all its privations and exhibitions of cold-heartedness from those around him, brought in the end a glorious vindication of character and improvement of circumstances. David’s many and great trials furnished him with materials for writing his sweetest psalms, and made him the comforter and counsellor of God’s people in every age. After encountering the fiercest opposition from the enemies of the truth at Antioch, the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Some severe trials are made to turn men’s dispositions into sweetness, and all features of excellence. That is honey out of the lion’s carcass. “How precious are thy thoughts”—that is when taking a retrospect of God’s way of leading us!
VII. The perils of the wicked’s fellowship.
Samson now sat at a Philistine’s board. There were suspicious glances all round the table. “When they saw him”—how strong and well-built, how formidable he might become were any dispute to arise, they set spies around him, consisting of thirty strong young men, to be a guard over him in case of any outbreak. That was a poor stockade of defence against a roused Samson; but the wicked’s protection is always a mere wall of reeds. In the language of deceit, which might be said to be the vernacular of Philistine social circles, they called these young men “friends of the bridegroom.” The company professed to be full of smiles, while their hearts were full of deadly thoughts. It was an easy transition to pass from the friendly query—“Art thou in health, brother?” to give a stab under the fifth rib. It was an atmosphere of treachery. Their farther conduct in stealing the solution of the riddle proposed, in extorting it from the terrified bride by threats, and in actually determining to burn her and her relatives with fire, showed some of the perils of the wicked’s fellowship. But it was worse still when she, whom he was to take as the companion of his bosom, actually betrayed her husband behind his back, and did what, to an honourable mind like that of Samson, was the same as giving him a stab in the very heart. So it is with those who have no fear of God before their eyes.
VIII. The ways of deceit end to the injury of those who practise them.
Samson did indeed act the part of honour in paying the forfeit to those who had nominally won it. But he took his own mode of fulfilling the conditions of the riddle. He paid the forfeit with Philistine blood and clothing (Jdg_14:19). He virtually said, since you have unrighteously compelled me to pay, I shall do so at the expense of your own countrymen; and so begin the infliction of the heavy blows on your wicked race for their oppression of God’s chosen people. Thus the ways of deceit recoil on those who walk in them (Psa_5:6; Psa_10:7-10; Psa_52:1-5).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1The Marriage of Samson
The Marriage of Samson
1-5. Samson chooses a wife among the Philistines. He and his parents go down to Timnath.
Read full note →
2. Timnath] some 4 m. SW. of Zorah, allotted to Dan (Jos_19:43); it was retaken by the Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2Ch_28:18). Get her for me to wife] It was customary for parents to conduct the negotiations and pay the dowry: cp. Gen_34:4-12.
3. Cp. Gen_24:3; Gen_26:34; Gen_27:46; Genesis 4. It was of the Lord] God purposed to use Samson as a weapon against the Philistines.
6-9. The slaying of the Lion.
6. Cp. Jdg_13:25 for the exploit, cp. 1Sa_17:34; 2Sa_23:20.
8. A swarm of bees.. in the carcase] probably it had dried up under the hot sun.
10, 11. The bridal feast.
11. When they saw him] Many Greek MSS, by a slight change, read 'since they feared him,' a natural explanation of this choice of what was practically a 'body-guard.' Cp. Mat_9:15, 'the children of the bride-chamber.'
12-20. Samson's Riddle and its consequences.
12. Thirty] one for each of his new companions. Sheets] RV 'linen garments.'
15. Called] i.e. invited us to your feast. To take that we have] RV 'impoverish us.'
16. She does not dare to tell her husband the real reason of her curiosity.
17. Lay sore upon him] RV 'pressed him sore.'
19. Ashkelon] on the coast of the Philistine country. There is, however, a village of the same name about an hour S. of Timnath (mentioned in 'Survey of Western Palestine') to which perhaps Samson rushed off. To leave the bride like this is an insult, which her father at once avenges by giving her to the 'best man': cp. Jdg_15:2.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1CHAPTER 14 The First Deeds of Samson
CHAPTER 14 The First Deeds of Samson
1. The woman in Timnath (Jdg 14:1-4)
Read full note →
2. The killing of the young lion and the honey in the carcass (Jdg 14:5-9)
3. The marriage feast and the riddle (Jdg 14:10-14)
4. The riddle answered (Jdg 14:15-18)
5. Thirty Philistines slain by Samson (Jdg 14:19-20)
Samson was called of God to be a true Nazarite, but in his life which was to manifest the Nazarite character he failed. “He went down to Timnath” is a foreboding beginning. It was a step in the wrong direction. He stepped upon the territory of the enemy to enter into an alliance with the Philistines. He meets one of the daughters of the Philistines, a woman in Timnath. Two other women we find in Samson’s life, an harlot of Gaza and Delilah. They are alike, representing the “wiles of the devil.” They lead him down and ultimately accomplish his downfall and death. Timnath means “portion assigned.” He left his occupation to seek a portion with the Philistines. Yet it was of the Lord in the sense that He permitted it for a wise purpose. And in that wrong course he came to the vineyards of Timnath and met the roaring lion. The lion is the type of Satan (Amo 3:8; 1Pe 5:8). He roared at the Nazarite, as Satan still roars against any one who bears the marks of separation unto God. Then in the power of the Spirit who came upon Samson he rent the lion as a kid. Then he saw the woman and she pleased him well. Strange contrast! In the power of the Spirit he tore the lion and then falls victim to the enemy in another form. How often this is the case in the experiences of God’s people. Afterwards he found in the carcass of the lion the swarm of bees and the honey, which he ate and also gave to his parents. “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” Our blessed Lord has conquered Satan and as the result of that mighty overthrow and victory, accomplished on the Cross, we have our meat, our sweetness, our salvation and blessing.
Another application besides the above and also of the believer’s personal experience in conquering by faith the enemy and receiving sweetness through it, has been suggested: “The occurrences which took place when Samson visited Timnath, the residence of the woman (the lion, and the honey afterwards found in the carcass), were highly significant, and adapted to instruct both him and his people. He seems himself to be aware, in some degree, of their importance, as he introduces them in his riddle. The lion, namely, is an image of the kingdoms of the world which are hostile to the kingdom of God; the attack, the struggle, and the victory thus acquire a symbolical meaning. The riddle also includes a truth of great importance, the evidence of which is furnished in manifold ways by the history of the world, and which admits of an appropriate application even to our times. The attack of the lion was an image of the Philistine invasion; the eater famished Israel with meat and sweetness, the destroyer brought salvation and blessings with him; for the yoke of the Philistines was a chastisement, designed to lead the people to repentance, and terminate in their renewed acceptableness before God.”
Then he is in very bad company. He went down to Timnath alone. He met the woman, then he made a feast and was surrounded by thirty Philistines as companions. He had allied himself with the enemy. And this compromise, this mingling with the enemies of the cross of Christ, is the common thing today and has led to the grieving of the Spirit and the loss of power. “For example, the modern system of revival--to which our Samson, in his failure, so closely answers--in which, whilst there doubtless often is more or less of true faithful service, yet to effect the end an alliance even with the enemy is sought; the aid of the world is sought in obtaining deliverance from the world! Fleshly attractions, eloquent speakers, exquisite music, cunning schemes for gathering crowds to attract crowds; all the churches closed except one, thus awakening a natural excitement; all these are daughters of the Philistine, very fair, all serving religion and pleasing us well; but very, very dangerous. For whilst at first they may not appear serious, they point to the possibility of their becoming so in the future; nor do they ever radically aid, but always hinder, the Nazarite.
He gives the riddle to the Philistines and makes a wager. The woman, now Samson’s wife, wept and continued till he told her the secret, “and she told the riddle to the children of her people.” Here was his weak point, which eventually resulted in his shameful downfall and humiliating experience. He could not keep a secret. But it was all the results of his going down, forming an alliance with the enemy he was called to overcome. He did not see that he had stepped in the wrong direction. He blamed the Philistines and not himself. “If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.” Then he slew thirty Philistines to make good his promise and thus openly declared his hatred and antagonism to the enemy for the first time.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1The Preliminary Arrangements
The Preliminary Arrangements
v. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath, in the region where the highlands of Judah merge into the plains of Philistia, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the philistines, who were therefore encroaching pretty far upon the territory of the Israelites.
Read full note →
v. 2. And he came up, to the hilly country where the home of his parents was, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; now, therefore, get her for me to wife. The act of giving children in marriage is clearly the prerogative of the parents according to the plain doctrine of God’s Word. A young man may state his preference and, in most cases, urge his suit successfully, but first with his own parents, for unless he sets forth with their blessing, or at least with their express consent, the serious business of taking a wife may prove disastrous to him.
v. 3. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, of his own tribe, or among all my people, in all Israel, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines, for the rite of circumcision was a distinction which Israel had above all heathen nations as a sign of God’s covenant. The objection of Manoah and his wife was founded upon Exo 34:16 and Deu 7:3-4, for, although the philistines are not expressly named in the list of heathen nations with whose members marriage was not to be consummated, yet the principle of the prohibition excluded the Philistines as well as all others. Mixed marriages are dangerous at all times, and parents will best perform their duty if they prevent the union between their children and unbelievers, and also false believers, from the start. And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. It may have been only a temporary attachment which Samson felt, but he was insistent, and his parents finally consented.
v. 4. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that Jehovah had so arranged matters, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, a valid ground for a quarrel and for an attack upon them; for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel, the Lord had delivered Israel into their hand to be oppressed by them, Jdg 13:1.
v. 5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, the young man evidently preceding his parents in his eagerness to press his suit with the woman of his choice, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, to the hills which bordered upon a more desolate section of country; and, behold, a young lion, fierce and bloodthirsty, roared against him, rushed upon him with all evidences of bloodthirstiness.
v. 6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, urging him on with great force, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, taking hold of the beast with his bare hands and slaughtering him with the greatest ease, and he had nothing in his hand, no weapon of any kind; but he told not his father or his mother what he had done, he was conscious for the first time that the strength which he possessed was an unusual power, and he felt diffident about discussing it even with his parents, all the more so because they would have been startled by the account of the danger in which he had been.
v. 7. And he went down and talked with the woman, with the idea of finding out more of her character and suitability by a conversation with her; and she pleased Samson well, the impression which he had first gained was confirmed.
v. 8. And after a time he returned to take her, coming down once more with his parents to celebrate the nuptials, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, for the heat of the dry season is so great as to take up all the moisture from a dead body before decay sets in; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion, the wild bees had lost no time in using the dry carcass as a hive.
v. 9. And he took thereof in his hands, drawing it out with his fingers as the only spoons available and using his hands as vessels, and went on eating, munched of the honey as he went along, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat, also relishing the delicacy; but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion, for that would have brought out the story of the encounter with the lion. This incident gave Samson the suggestion for the riddle which he proposed during the week of feasting. A greater than Samson, Christ, the almighty God, has overcome the roaring lion, Satan, and this victory is the source of peace, salvation, and life for all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3Samson went down to Timnah
Samson went down to Timnah
The phrase "went down" is used here because Timnah is lower in elevation than where his father's house was. Timah is the name of a city in the Sorek Valley. (See: How to Translate Names)
Read full note →
one of the daughters of the Philistines
The word "daughter" is a polite way to refer to a young, unmarried woman. AT: "one of the unmarried women among the Philistine people" or "a Philistine girl" (See: Euphemism)
Now get her for me to be my wife
This is an idiom. Samson was demanding his parents to speak to the Philistine woman's parents about marriage. AT: "Now arrange for her to become my wife" or "Make the arrangements for me to marry her" (See: Idiom)
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Hebrew, take her for me to wife.
Hebrew, take her for me to wife.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and…
Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Ver. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath.] Whether to the market, or the sports, or some great feast, &c., it is not recorded; but God had an overruling hand in this journey for the punishment of the Philistines, though Samson cannot be altogether excused; for he went "after the sight of his eyes and lust of his heart." {Ecc 11:9} Ill guides.
Read full note →
And saw a woman in Timnath.] This licentious eye should have been plucked out. {Mat 5:29} A little otherwise than Democritus the philosopher put out his eyes, because he could not look upon a woman but he must lust after her; wherein he did nothing else, saith Tertullian, {a} but lay open his own folly to the whole city where he dwelt. How much better David, who prayed, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," {Psa 119:37} and Job, who voweth and imprecateth {Job 31:1; Job 31:7} against these oculorum dolores, as great Alexander called the Persian maids.
{a} In Apolog.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 After he was come to mature age.
After he was come to mature age.
Timnath; a place not far from the sea; of which see Gen 38:12; Jos 15:57; 19:43.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here, I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence,…
Here, I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of Providence, seeks an occasion of quarrelling with the Philistines, by joining in affinity with them - a strange method, but the truth is Samson was himself a riddle, a paradox of a man, did that which was really great and good, by that which was seemingly weak and evil, because he was designed not to be a pattern to us (who must walk by rule, not by example), but a type of him who, though he knew no sin, was made sin for us, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might condemn and destroy sin in the flesh, Rom 8:3.
1. As the negotiation of Samson's marriage was a common case, we may observe, (1.) That is was weakly and foolishly done of him to set his affections upon a daughter of the Philistines; the thing appeared very improper. Shall one that is not only an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the Lord, covet to become one with a worshipper of Dagon? Shall one marked for a patriot of his country match among those that are its sworn enemies? He saw this woman (Jdg 14:1), and she pleased him well, Jdg 14:3. It does not appear that he had any reason to think her wise or virtuous, or in any way likely to be a help-meet for him; but he saw something in her face that was very agreeable to his fancy, and therefore nothing will serve but she must be his wife. He that in the choice of a wife is guided only by his eye, and governed by his fancy, must afterwards thank himself if he find a Philistine in his arms. (2.) Yet it was wisely and well done not to proceed so much as to make his addresses to her till he had first made his parents acquainted with the matter. He told them, and desired them to get her for him to wife, Jdg 14:2. Herein he is an example to all children. Conformably to the law of the fifth commandment, children ought not to marry, nor to move towards marrying, without the advice and consent of their parents; those that do (as bishop Hall here expresses it) wilfully unchild themselves, and exchange natural affections for violent. parents have a property in their children as parts of themselves. In marriage this property is transferred; for such is the law of the relation that a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife. It is therefore not only unkind and ungrateful, but very unjust, to alienate this property without their concurrence; whoso thus robbeth his father or mother, stealing himself from them, who is nearer and dearer to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer, Pro 28:24. (3.) His parents did well to dissuade him from yoking himself thus unequally with unbelievers. Let those who profess religion, but are courting an affinity with the profane and irreligious, matching into families where they have reason to think the fear of God is not, nor the worship of God, let them hear their reasoning, and apply it to themselves: "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or, if none of our tribe, never a one among all thy people, never an Israelite, that pleases thee, or that thou canst think worthy of thy affection, that thou shouldest marry a Philistine?" In the old world the sons of God corrupted and ruined themselves, their families, and that truly primitive church, by marrying with the daughters of men, Gen 6:2. God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the devoted nations, one of which the Philistines were, Deu 7:3. (4.) If there had not been a special reason for it, it certainly would have been improper in him to insist upon his choice, and in them to agree to it at last. Yet their tender compliance with his affections may be observed as an example to parents not to be unreasonable in crossing their children's choices, nor to deny their consent, especially to those that have seasonably and dutifully asked it, without some very good cause. As children must obey their parents in the Lord, so parents must not provoke their children to wrath, lest they be discouraged. This Nazarite, in his subjection to his parents, asking their consent, and not proceeding till he had it, was not only an example to all children, but a type of the holy child Jesus, who went down with his parents to Nazareth (thence called a Nazarene) and was subject to them, Luk 2:51.
Read full note →
2. But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to be of the Lord, Jdg 14:4. Not only that God afterwards overruled it to serve his designs against the Philistines, but that he put it into Samson's heart to make this choice, that he might have occasion against the Philistine. It was not a thing evil in itself for him to marry a Philistine. It was forbidden because of the danger of receiving hurt by idolaters; where there was not only no danger of that kind, but an opportunity hoped for of doing that hurt to them which would be good service to Israel, the law might well be dispense with. It was said (Jdg 13:25) that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times, and we have reason to think he himself perceived that Spirit to move him at this time, when he made this choice, and that otherwise he would have yielded to his parents' dissuasives, nor would they have consented at last if he had not satisfied them it was of the Lord. This would bring him into acquaintance and converse with the Philistines, by which he might have such opportunities of galling them as otherwise he could not have. It should seem, the way in which the Philistines oppressed Israel was, not by great armies, but by the clandestine incursions of their giants and small parties of their plunderers. In the same way therefore Samson must deal with them; let him but by this marriage get among them, and he would be a thorn in their sides. Jesus Christ, having to deliver us from this present evil world, and to cast out the prince of it, did himself visit it, though full of pollution and enmity, and, by assuming a body, did in some sense join in affinity with it, that he might destroy our spiritual enemies, and his own arm might work the salvation.
II. Samson, by a special providence, is animated and encouraged to attack the Philistines. That being the service for which he was designed, God, when he called him to it, prepared him for it by two occurrences: -
1. By enabling him, in one journey to Timnath, to kill a lion, Jdg 14:5, Jdg 14:6. Many decline doing the service they might do because they know not their own strength. God let Samson know what he could do in the strength of the Spirit of the Lord, that he might never be afraid to look the greatest difficulties in the face. David, who was to complete the destruction of the Philistines, must try his hand first upon a lion and a bear, that thence he might infer, as we may suppose Samson did, that the uncircumcised Philistine should be as one of them, Sa1 17:36. (1.) Samson's encounter with the lion was hazardous. It was a young lion, one of the fiercest sort, that set upon him, roaring for his prey, and setting his eye particularly upon him; he roared in meeting him, so the word is. He was all alone in the vineyards, whither he had rambled from his father and mother (who kept the high road), probably to eat grapes. Children consider not how they expose themselves to the roaring lion that seeks to devour when, out of a foolish fondness for liberty, they wander from under the eye and wing of their prudent pious parents. Nor do young people consider what lions lurk in the vineyards, the vineyards of red wines, as dangerous as snakes under the green grass. Had Samson met with this lion in the way, he might have had more reason to expect help both from God and man than here in the solitary vineyards, out of his road. But there was a special providence in it, and the more hazardous the encounter was, (2.) The victory was so much the more illustrious. It was obtained without any difficulty: he strangled the lion, and tore his throat as easily as he would have strangled a kid, yet without any instrument, not only no sword nor bow, but not so much as a staff or knife; he had nothing in his hand. Christ engaged the roaring lion, and conquered him in the beginning of his public work (Mat 4:1, etc.), and afterwards spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in himself, as some read it, not by any instrument. He was exalted in his own strength. That which added much to the glory of Samson's triumph over the lion was that when he had done this great exploit he did not boast of it, did not so much as tell his father nor mother that which many a one would soon have published through the whole country. Modesty and humility make up the brightest crown of great performances.
2. By providing him, the next journey, with honey in the carcase of this lion, Jdg 14:8, Jdg 14:9. When he came down the next time to solemnize his nuptials, and his parents with him, he had the curiosity to turn aside into the vineyard where he had killed the lion, perhaps that with the sight of the place he might affect himself with the mercy of that great deliverance, and might there solemnly give thanks to God for it. It is good thus to remind ourselves of God's former favours to us. There he found the carcase of the lion; the birds or beasts of prey, it is likely, had eaten the flesh, and in the skeleton a swarm of bees had knit, and made a hive of it, and had not been idle, but had there laid up a good stock of honey, which was one of the staple commodities of Canaan; such plenty there was of it that the land is said to flow with milk and honey. Samson, having a better title than any man to the hive, seizes the honey with his hands. This supposes an encounter with the bees; but he that dreaded not lion's paws had no reason to fear their stings. As by his victory over the lion he was emboldened to encounter the Philistine-giants, if there should be occasion, notwithstanding their strength and fierceness, so by dislodging the bees he was taught not to fear the multitude of the Philistines; though they compassed him about like bees, yet in the name of the Lord he should destroy them, Psa 118:12. Of the honey he here found, (1.) He ate himself, asking no questions for conscience' sake; for the dead bones of an unclean beast had not that ceremonial pollution in them that the bones of a man had. John Baptist, that Nazarite of the New Testament, lived upon wild honey. (2.) He gave to his parents, and they did eat; he did not eat all himself. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, and no more, Pro 25:16. He let his parents share with him. Children should be grateful to their parents with the fruits of their own industry, and so show piety at home, Ti1 5:4. Let those that by the grace of God have found sweetness in religion themselves communicate their experience to their friends and relations, and invite them to come and share with them. He told not his parents whence he had it, lest they should scruple eating it. Bishop Hall observes here that those are less wise and more scrupulous than Samson that decline the use of God's gifts because they find them in ill vessels. Honey is hone still, though in a dead lion. Our Lord Jesus having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, believers find honey in the carcase, abundant strength and satisfaction, enough for themselves and for all their friends, from that victory.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 And Samson went down to Timnath,.... A city which…
And Samson went down to Timnath,.... A city which by lot fell to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, and now in the hands of the Philistines, Jos 15:57. Judah is said to go up to it, because the place where he lived lay below it, Gen 38:13, but Samson is said to go down to it, because he lived above it. The Jews (t) differ about the reconciliation of these two places; some say there were two of this name, the one is a descent, and the other is an ascent; others say there was but one, so situated, that they that came to it on one side ascended, and they that came to it on the other side descended. Bochart (u) approves of the former. According to Bunting (w), this was twelve miles from Eshtaol, where Samson lived:
and saw a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines; who at this time dwelt there; he saw no doubt many other women besides her, but he took special notice of her, and entertained a particular affection for her; or, in other words, on sight of her fell in love with her.
Read full note →
(t) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1. (u) IIierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 4. col. 763, 764. (w) Travels, &c. p. 115.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Samson's marriage with a Philistine, and killing a lion,…
Samson's marriage with a Philistine, and killing a lion, ver. 1-7. He finds honey in the carcase, ver. 8, 9. His riddle, ver. 10- 14. Unriddled by means of his wife, ver. 15-18. He kills thirty Philistines, and leaves her, ver. 19,
Went - After he was come to mature age. Timnath - A place not far from the sea.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Samson marries a wife of the Philistines, 1-4.
CHAPTER XIV
Samson marries a wife of the Philistines, 1-4.
Read full note →
Slays a young lion at Timnath, in the carcass of which he
afterwards finds a swarm of bees, 5-9.
He makes a feast; they appoint him thirty companions, to whom
he puts forth a riddle, which they cannot expound, 10-14.
They entice his wife to get the interpretation from him; she
succeeds, informs them, and they tell the explanation, 15-18.
He is incensed, and slays thirty of the Philistines, 19, 20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. Went down to Timnath] A frontier town of the Philistines, at the beginning of the lands belonging to the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:57; but afterwards given up to Dan, Jos 19:43. David took this place from the Philistines, but they again got possession of it in the reign of Ahaz, 2Ch 28:18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Jdg 14:1-2. Samson went — After he was come…
Jdg 14:1-2. Samson went — After he was come to mature age; to Timnath — A place not far from the sea. Get her for me to wife — Herein he is an example to all children, conformable to the fifth commandment. Children ought not to marry, nor to move toward it, without the advice and consent of their parents. They that do, as Bishop Hall speaks, unchild themselves. Parents have a property in their children, as parts of themselves. In marriage this property is transferred. It is, therefore, not only unkind and ungrateful, but palpably unjust, to alienate this property, without their concurrence. Whoso thus robbeth his father or mother, stealing from them himself, who is nearer and dearer to them than their goods, and yet saith, It is no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer, Pro 28:24.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Timnath - See Jos 15:10 and note. It was…
Timnath - See Jos 15:10 and note. It was below Zorah Jdg 13:2, about three miles S. W. of it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Thamnatha, in the confines of the tribes of Juda…
Thamnatha, in the confines of the tribes of Juda and Gad, and of the Philistines, who often took it from the latter. It is called Thamna, Genesis xxxviii. 12, (Bonfrere) and lies near Lidda. (Eusebius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The opening step of Samson’s career: his unlawful desire…
The opening step of Samson’s career: his unlawful desire to marry a daughter of the Philistines overruled by God for Israel’s good.
Jdg_14:1-4.
Read full note →
1And Samson went down to Timnath [Timnathah], and saw a woman in Timnath 2[Timnathah] of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath [Timnathah] 3of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then [And] his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for 4me; for she pleaseth me well [is pleasing in my eyes]. But [And] his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord [Jehovah], that [for] he sought an occasion against [from] the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion [were lording it] over Israel.
EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL
Jdg_14:1. And Samson went down to Timnah. Timnah or Timnathah, the present Tibneh, situated to the southwest of Zorah, at the confluence of Wady Sumt with Wady Surâr (Ritter, xvi. 116; [Gage’s Transl. iii. 241]), on the border of the tribe of Judah (Jos_15:10), was assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Dan (Jos_19:43), but had fallen into the hands of the Philistines.
Jdg_14:2-3. Get her for me to wife. The history of Samson abounds with instructive notices of the social life of the times. The women lead a free life, not shut up, as they are in the East of the present day. The stranger can see the beauty of the daughters of the land. But Samson cannot yet dispense with the permission of his parents. He is yet in their house, unmarried, a בָּחוּר. From the choice of Samson, and his mode of life, there comes to view, in the first place, the prevalent, though unlawful, admixture of Israelitish and heathen families and customs. But the barriers raised by difference of nationality are nevertheless manifest. The parents at first refuse their consent to Samson’s choice; but they cannot resist his prayer. He is their only son,—and such a son! full of strength and youthful promise,—therefore it gives them pain.1
Jdg_14:4. And his father and his mother knew not. If the mother kept in her heart the saying that her son would begin to deliver Israel, his strength and gifts doubtless awakened many hopes within her. But his wish to marry a Philistine maiden, seemed to destroy every expectation. He who when in his mother’s womb was already consecrated to be a Nazarite, desires to enter into covenant with those who have not even the consecration of circumcision,—and that against the law! He who was endowed to be a deliverer and champion of Israel against the national enemies, shall he become a friend of the tyrants, a member of one of their families? For the parents knew not,—
That this was of Jehovah, for it became an occasion of assailing the Philistines; and at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. The parents could not but be painfully affected, for they knew not what the consequence would be But although ignorant on this point, they nevertheless yielded. They unconsciously submit to he stronger spirit of Samson; and thus their indulgence united with the unconscious longing of their son to bring about the fulfillment of what the angel had announced.
The career of Samson is an historical drama without a parallel. Its dark background is the national life out of which he emerges. Israel is under Philistine oppression, because of sin and consequent enervation. It is not without resentment against the enemy, but it lacks spirit. It prefers slavish peace to a freedom worth making sacrifices for. It hates the national enemies, but it holds illicit intercourse with them. Such a national life in itself can beget no heroes, nor use them when they exist.
The influence of this national life is evident in Samson himself. He has unequaled spirit, strength, and courage; but he is alone. The young man finds no sympathy, at which to kindle himself. There are no patriots in search of heroes. There is no national sorrow, that waits longingly for deliverance and a deliverer, and in consequence thereof recognizes him when he appears. On the contrary, luxury and sensuality prevail, eating away the heart of the rising generation; for national character also is wanting, by which, conscious of their power, Israel’s youth might clearly recognize their proper goal. Samson too had perished in sensuality, which does not distinguish between friend and foe; but his genius has a seal that cannot be broken. The consecration on his head preserves in his soul an impulse that cannot miss its goal. The law of this consecration is freedom. For freedom’s sake, it lends him strength and spirit. Hannibal’s father made him when but a boy swear everlasting war against the Romans. Samson, as Nazarite from his birth, is borne onward, less consciously, but even more surely, to a hatred with which he is not acquainted, and to wrath and battle for the freedom of Israel.
Samson is without an army, without a congenial popular spirit, without sympathy and courage on the part of his countrymen,—not even Gideon’s three hundred are with him; he has no teacher and spiritual leader; he is alone, and moreover exposed to every temptation to which gigantic strength and corporal beauty give rise; but in his consecration to God he has a guidance that does not lead astray. Hence, that by which others are fettered and subjected, becomes for him the means of attaining his destiny. The paths on which others go to destruction, for him become highways of victory and of strength. It is an act of national treason, when he takes a Philistine wife; and yet for him, it becomes the occasion for deeds in behalf of national freedom.
There is no historical drama in which the nobility and invincible destiny of a great personality, reveal themselves so luminously as in the life of Samson.
It is well known that in the history and fiction of all nations, as in the heroic poems of all ages, love for women has formed a chief motive for conflict and adventure. Even the circumstance which throws so great a charm over the lives and contests of the heroes to whom it appertains, that their love breaks through the confines of their own nation or party, and attaches itself so women who live within the circle of the enemy, is constantly recurring. But in those narratives, as also in the Persian legend, where Rudabe, the mother of Rustem, is the daughter of her Iranian lover’s hereditary foeman, and as in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, in Romeo and Juliet, and in the dramas of Schiller,—love is the central point and principal motive. Political barriers, national hatreds, ancient passions, all must yield to love, whether it ends in joy or tragedy. How different is its position in the history of Samson! The antagonism between Israel and the Philistines is justified and commanded. Truth cannot intermix itself with idolatry. The over-leaping by sensuality of the spiritual barriers between the two, is the cause of Israel’s sunken condition. That love through which Samson desires the maiden of Timnah, can be no joyful goal. Hence, the relation of his inborn heroism to love shows itself to be very different from that which obtains in heathenism and romance. There, the exploits of heroism become the occasions of love; for Samson, romance becomes the occasion of heroism. There, love overleaps the lines that separate nationalities; in Samson’s case, it becomes the occasion by which he becomes mindful of the separation. Elsewhere, weakness, sensuality, enjoyment, become the snares which bind the inflamed hero; but for Samson, they become only the occasion for rending asunder the fetters, and for understanding the purpose for which he is endowed with divine strength.
And at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. The addition of this remark is by no means superfluous. It serves to indicate the background of all Samson’s deeds. The mere fact that the Philistines ruled, demonstrated Israel’s apostasy and punishment; that they continued to rule, was evidence of Israel’s powerlessness and inability to repent. It was because they ruled, and Israel was without repentance, that Samson appears so different from Gideon and Jephthah. In the midst of the Philistine supremacy, he enters on his single-handed conflict with them. Notwith-standing that they ruled by means of Israel’s own sin, the objective power of the divine law and spirit evinces itself in the hero-nature of Samson, almost against his own will.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
[Bush: “I wish,” says an old divine, “that Manoah and his wife could speak so loud that all our Israel could hear them.” By nothing is the heart of a pious parent more grieved than by the prospect of the unequal yoking of his children with profane or irreligious partners; for he knows that nothing is so likely to prove injurious to their spiritual interests, and subject them to heartrending trials.—Bp. Hall: As it becomes not children to be forward in their choice, so parents may not be too peremptory in their denials. It is not safe for children to overrun parents in settling their affections; nor for parents (where the impediments are not very material) to come short of their children, when the affections are once settled: the one is disobedience; the other may be tyranny.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][Keil: It is true that in Exo_34:16 and Deu_7:3 f. only marriages with Canaanitish women are expressly forbidden; but the ground of the prohibition extended equally to marriages with daughters of the Philistines. For the same reason, in Jos_13:8, the Philistines also are reckoned among the Canaanites.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 Is there never a woman among the daughters of…
Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren--that is, "of thine own tribe"--a Danite woman.
Samson said . . . Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well--literally, "she is right in mine eyes"; not by her beautiful countenance or handsome figure, but right or fit for his purpose. And this throws light on the historian's remark in reference to the resistance of his parents: they "knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines"--rather, "from the Philistines"--originating on their side. The Lord, by a course of retributive proceedings, was about to destroy the Philistine power, and the means which He meant to employ was not the forces of a numerous army, as in the case of the preceding judges, but the miraculous prowess of the single-handed champion of Israel. In these circumstances, the provocation to hostilities could only spring out of a private quarrel, and this marriage scheme was doubtless suggested by the secret influence of the Spirit as the best way of accomplishing the intended result.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 SAMSON’S MARRIAGE AND RIDDLE, Jdg_14:1-20.
SAMSON’S MARRIAGE AND RIDDLE, Jdg_14:1-20.
“Samson keeps his vow of abstinence from intoxication,” says Ewald, “but is all the weaker and wilder with regard to the love of women, as if he could here make up for the want of freedom elsewhere; and by a singular sport of chance, or, rather, by the secret revenge of a heart warped by the vow, his love is always excited by women of that very race which the vow urges him to combat with all the might of his arm, and on whose men the weight of his own strength always falls at the right time.”
Read full note →
1. Went down to Timnath — About five miles southwest from Zorah, and identical with the modern Tibneh. To reach it from Zorah one has to “descend through wild rocky gorges, just where one would expect to find a lion in those days, when wild beasts were far more common than at present.” — Thomson.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Timnah] now Tibneh, about 4 m. S.W. of…
1. Timnah] now Tibneh, about 4 m. S.W. of Zorah, on the low hills of the Shephçlah: hence went down is the word for reaching it from Samson’s house (Jdg_14:1; Jdg_14:5; Jdg_14:7; Jdg_14:10), and go up, for the journey in the opposite direction, Jdg_14:2 and 1Sa_29:9. According to Jos_15:10 Timnah lay on the N. border of Judah (cf. 2Ch_28:18), and is assigned to Dan, ib. Jos_19:43 (P). It is mentioned in the Prism Inscr. of Sennacherib as one of the places which he captured after Altaḳu (Eltekeh), just before he ravaged Judah in 701 b.c., Keil. Bibl. ii. 92 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) To Timnath.—This town, of which the site still…
(1) To Timnath.—This town, of which the site still retains the name Tibneh, is perhaps the same as that in Gen_38:12, unless that be a town in the mountains of Judah, as Judah is there said to have “gone up” not as here, “down” to it. In Jos_15:10 it is assigned to Judah, but appears to have been afterwards ceded to Dan (Jos_19:45). The name means “a portion,” and is found also in Timnath-serah, where Joshua was buried (Jos_24:30).
Of the daughters of the Philistines.—This was against the spirit of the law, which forbad intermarriages with Canaanites (Exo_34:16; Deu_7:3-4). The sequel showed the wisdom of the law (2Co_6:14).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Timnath, or, more correctly, Thimnathah, as in Jos_19:43, a…
Timnath, or, more correctly, Thimnathah, as in Jos_19:43, a town in the tribe of Dan, the name of which survives in the modern Tibneh, about three miles south-west of Zorah. (Jud_1:13:2, note) It may or may not be identical with Timnath in Gen_38:12-14, and with Timnah in Jos_15:10. It appears to have been in the possession of the Philistines at this time.
Vers. 1-9. The link of the chain.
Read full note →
A swarm of bees light one day in the carcase of a lion which had been killed in the vineyards of Thimnathah. They construct their hive there, and make their honey. It was no doubt an unusual circumstance that the bees should form their hive in such a place rather than in a hollow tree, or the cleft of a rock, but beyond its interest as a fact in natural history nobody would have attached any importance to it. But this action of the bees was linked to curious antecedents, and to peculiar consequences. The lion had been slain by Samson, that mysterious person of gigantic strength, whose life is such a remarkable episode in the history of Israel; and Samson had been led to the spot where the lion was by his ill-regulated love for a daughter of the Philistines, who were the masters and oppressors of his country. And as to what happened after the swarming of these bees, the marriage of Samson to his Philistine bride took place after an interval just sufficient for the bees to have filled their hive with honey, and Samson on his way to the wedding, impelled by a natural curiosity to see the lion which he had killed, had turned aside from his path, and had eaten the honey which was strangely found there. It was the custom of the time and of those people to beguile the long hours of the idle wedding feasts with curious questions and strange riddles. In the gambling spirit which is such a frequent accompaniment of insufficient occupation, whether among the lazaronis of Naples or the wealthy nobles of modern society, such riddles were made the occasion of wagers, and such wagers often led to deadly quarrels. In the present instance Samson"s double adventure with the lion suggested to him the riddle, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." Baffled in their attempts to guess the riddle by fair means, they set on Samson"s wife to worm the secret out of him and divulge it to them. Samson at once perceived the treachery, broke with his wife, slew thirty Philistines, and took their spoil wherewith to pay the lost wager, and followed up the feud by successive slaughters of his enemies, thus preparing the way for the eventual overthrow of the Philistine domination. The point for our special remark is that a swarm of bees lighting on a particular spot was an important link in the chain of providence by which the destinies of a great people were guided to independence; and the observation is not only a curious one, but has an important bearing upon the difficult subject (see Homiletics, Jud 3:12-21) of the use made of men, and of men"s actions, in the providential government of the world. Samson in slaying the lion, and the bees in swarming in its carcase, did things which were links in the chain of events which God foresaw, or fore-ordained, as he did also the effects of Samson"s marriage with the Philistine. But just as the bees only followed their instinct in building their hive, so Samson, in fixing his affections on the Timnathite, and in attacking the lion, and in eating the honey, and in propounding the riddle, and in avenging himself for his wife"s treachery, was merely following the bent of his own inclinations and the leading of his own will, though in so doing he was bringing about God"s purpose for the deliverance of Israel. What, however, we have here to notice is the wonderful way in which God brings about his own purpose, and also the infinite foreknowledge of God. We look back, and we can trace the successive steps of causation, as one follows the other, like wave upon wave. But God looks forward from the beginning, foresees the effect of each cause in endless succession, and so orders them as to accomplish his own will. The most trivial events may be necessary links in the great chain; and while men are blindly following their own inclinations, with little thought and no knowledge of what will come of them, God is making use of them with unerring wisdom to work out his own eternal purposes, for the good of his people and for the glory of his own great name.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR. Vers. 1-4. Human desire overruled for Divine ends.
This incident in the life of Samson has a universal human interest. He no sooner comes to manhood than his destiny begins to determine itself. He sees a woman of the Philistines, and at once his fancy is captivated, and the strong natural desires of the young man overleap all the traditional restraints of God"s people. He manufactures a law for himself; "she pleaseth me well" may mean, "it is pleasing, or right, in my own eyes." The perplexity and distress of the parents, unaware of the meaning of this strange freak, so opposed to the future they had been led to imagine for their son. Notice
I THE FATALITY OF DESIRE. A sudden, unreasoning, and unreasonable passion is scarcely the augury one would expect for the career of a promised deliverer. A crisis in his moral history, a pivot upon which his whole subsequent life must turn. Sexual attachments are amongst the determining factors of human character and life, and the bases of society. Yet there are no circumstances of our life so independent of mere reason, and the power of the subjects of them. Still as a rule the outward realisation of such attachments is within the control of the individual. Recognition should be made of God"s share in producing them, and the matter should be laid before him. He has been blamed for "heavily loading the dice" in this matter for his own universal ends, and for wantonly subjecting the subject of passion to misery and disadvantage. Moral and intellectual progress are thus, it is said, indefinitely hindered. If it could be written, how full of light upon the moral and intellectual history of the race would be an account of the intermarriages of nations, the mesalliances of individuals! etc.
II THE ENTANGLEMENT AND PERPLEXITY IT OCCASIONS. Here it meant connection with the idolatrous and sensual life of the Philistines. The relatives on both sides could not be cordial. A relaxation of moral principles must ensue. Children would bring a fresh discord. How could a man so related lift up his hand against the Philistines? An instance like this throws strong light upon the traditional objection of God"s chosen people to intermarriage with neighbouring tribes and nations. It is not for nothing that it is written of Noah and of one and, another beside, And he was perfect in his generation. " "The daughters of Heth" are ineligible in the eyes of the patriarch"s wife for other than mere social reasons. There can be no doubt but that the same caution ought to characterise Christian parents in the alliances they encourage their children to make.
III THE FURTHER AND HIGHER MINISTRY OF DESIRE. Behind and beyond all this sinister appearance was the Divine purpose, he (Jehovah) sought an occasion from the Philistines. " God"s will is fulfilled in many ways, and by alternatives. When sin refuses to be put under then it can be utilised; and the end more completely served, albeit not to the immediate happiness or advantage of the guilty agent. How often "by a way they knew not" have the sons of men been led by an unseen providence to gracious ends. An ill-assorted marriage is a great calamity, but it may be the determining cause of important spiritual results, and by arranging a new relationship and set of conditions, prepare for a higher and nobler, though less immediately happy, development, of inward character. Thus the whole question of the determining force of sexual desire, which has been a matter of grief and despair to the pessimist, is capable of another interpretation. The past history of our race shows that "where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound." Let us not therefore despair before these mysterious fatalities and complications, but commit the way of ourselves and children into the hands of him "who seeth the end from the beginning," and who makes "all things work together for good" to them that love him. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Samson went down to Timnath.
Jdg_14:1-20
Samson went down to Timnath.
Read full note →
Samsons first love
In considering Samsons choice of a wife, we are conscious of a feeling of painful disappointment. In choosing a Philistine, we begin to see his lower nature acting the tyrant. But it were well if domestic history in modern times did not present many instances of similar stubbornness. In such matters, the fancy of young people is often the supreme law. Samsons falling in love was in the ordinary way: And he saw a woman of Tinmath, and she pleased him well. We do not wonder that his pious parents were astonished at his wish to take a Philistine woman to wife. They were national enemies. And the angel had said he should deliver Israel. They would therefore naturally inquire, How is this? Is our deliverance to begin with an alliance? We are not to touch anything unclean; our child is a Nazarite; and yet he wishes to marry a heathen! This is the beginning of the riddle. Is there never a woman among thy brethren? is the natural inquiry of such a father and mother. As he was so especially consecrated to God, it must have seemed peculiarly improper for him to make such an alliance. In seeking a Philistine wife, even in the most favourable view we can take of the affair Samson was treading on doubtful and dangerous ground. Their law expressly forbade the Israelites to marry among those nations that were cursed and devoted to destruction. It does not appear, however, that the Philistines were numbered among the doomed Canaanites. They were of Egyptian origin. The spirit of the Hebrew law, however, was plainly against such alliances, for the Philistines were idolaters and foreigners. It is true the law that forbade an Israelite to marry a heathen was a ceremonial law, or a police law--one that related to their national policy. It was not one of the laws of the decalogue. It was not a moral law. It might therefore be changed or suspended. But if the Divine prohibition against such an alliance was repealed for the time, making for special reasons his case an exception, how is it that the historian does not inform us of this fact? Why does not Samson tell his parents that the law is repealed in this case? There is not even a hint of any such thing. The match was of his own seeking. But God, seeing Samsons choice, determined to bring good out of it--he determined that his attachment to a Philistine woman should be overruled, so as to be the occasion of his beginning to deliver Israel. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Samsons marriage
1. That the people of God are liable to imperfections. They are human, though partakers of grace.
2. That our lusts and passions are to be resisted. Scenes of temptation ought to be avoided, and our greatest earthly joys ought to be regarded by us as pregnant with temptation, and be carefully watched.
3. That care should be taken in forming friendships or alliances.
4. That a crooked policy does not eventually profit. Samsons wife burnt by those to whom she betrayed her husband.
5. That God frequently works good out of evil; and that Gods purposes are frequently accomplished by means of persons and events apparently least adapted, or even most opposed.
6. That though God may pardon our sins, their consequences in this life are frequently irremediable. The Spirit of God came again upon Samson, but his eyes were never restored, and he perished in the destruction of his enemies. (J. Bigwood.)
The choice of a wife
Samson, the giant, is here asking consent of his father and mother to marriage with one whom they thought unfit for him. He was wise in asking their counsel, but not wise in rejecting it. Excuseless was he for such a choice in a land and amid a race celebrated for female loveliness and moral worth, a land and a race of which self-denying Abigail, and heroic Deborah, and dazzling Miriam, and pious Esther, and glorious Ruth were only magnificent specimens. There are almost in every farmhouse in the country, in almost every home of the great towns, conscientious women, self-sacrificing women, holy women; and more inexcusable than the Samson is that man who, amid all this unparalleled munificence of womanhood, marries a fool. That marriage is the destination of the human race is a mistake that I want to correct. There are multitudes who never will marry, and still greater multitudes who are not fit to marry. But the majority will marry, and have a right to marry; and I wish to say to these men, in the choice of a wife first of all seek Divine direction. The need of Divine direction I argue from the fact that so many men, and some of them strong and wise, have wrecked their lives at this juncture. Witness Samson and this woman of Timnath! Witness John Wesley, one of the best men that ever lived, united to one of the most outrageous of women, who sat in City Road Chapel making mouths at him while he preached! Especially is devout supplication needed, because of the fact that society is so full of artificialities that men are deceived as to whom they are marrying, and no one but the Lord knows. By the bliss of Pliny, whose wife, when her husband was pleading in court, had messengers coming and going to inform her what impression he was making; by the joy of Grotius, whose wife delivered him from prison under the pretence of having books carried out lest they be injurious to his health, she sending out her husband unobserved in one of the bookcases; by the good fortune of Roland, in Louiss time, whose wife translated and composed for her husband while Secretary of the Interior--talented, heroic, wonderful Madame Roland; by the happiness of many a man who has made intelligent choice of one capable of being prime counsellor and companion in brightness and in grief--pray to Almighty God that at the right time and in the right place He will send you a good, honest, loving, sympathetic wife; or, if she is not sent to you, that you may be sent to her. But prayer about this will amount to nothing unless you pray soon enough. Wait until you are fascinated and the equilibrium of your soul is disturbed by a magnetic exquisite presence, and then you will answer your own prayers, and you will mistake your own infatuation for the voice of God. If you have this prayerful spirit you will surely avoid all female scoffers at the Christian religion; and there are quite a number of them in all communities. What you want, O man! in a wife is not a butterfly of the sunshine, not a giggling nonentity, not a painted doll, not a gossiping gadabout, not a mixture of artificialities which leave you in doubt as to where the sham ends and the woman begins, but an earnest soul, one that can not only laugh when you laugh, but weep when you weep. As far as I can analyse it, sincerity and earnestness are the foundation of all worthy wifehood. Get that, and you get all. Fail to get that, and you get nothing but what you will wish you never had got. Dont make the mistake that the man of the text made in letting his eye settle the question in which coolest judgment directed by Divine wisdom are all-important. He who has no reason for his wifely choice except a pretty face is like a man who should buy a farm because of the dahlias in the front door yard. There are two or three circumstances in which the plainest wife is a queen of beauty to her husband, whatever her stature or profile. By financial panic, or betrayal of business partner, the man goes down, and returning to his home that evening he says: I am ruined! I am in disgrace for ever! I care not whether I live or die. After he ceases talking, and the wife has heard all in silence, she says: Is that all? Why, you had nothing when I married you, and you have only come back to where you started. If you think that my happiness and that of the children depend on these trappings, you do not know me, though we have lived together thirty years. God is not dead and if you dont mind, I dont care a bit. What little we need of food and raiment the rest of our lives we can get, and don t propose to sit down and mope. The husband looks up in amazement, and says, Well, well, you are the greatest woman I ever saw. I thought you would faint dead away When I told you. And, as he looks at her, all the glories of physiognomy in the Court of Louis XV. on the modern fashion-plates are tame as compared with the superhuman splendours of that womans face. There is another time when the plainest wife is a queen of beauty to her husband. She has done the work of life. She has reared her children for God and heaven, and though some of them may be a little wild, they will yet come back, for God has promised. She is dying, and her husband stands by. They think over the years of their companionship, the weddings and the burials, the ups and the downs, the successes and the failures. They talk over the goodness of God, and His faithfulness to childrens children. She has no fear about going. Gone! As one of the neighbours takes the old man by the arm gently and says: Come, you had better go into the next room and rest, he says, Wait a moment; I must take one more look at that face and at those hands! Beautiful! Beautiful! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
It was of the Lord.
God overrules evil for good
1. This verse has been very strangely and very unfortunately misunderstood by many. It has been thought to mean
(1) That Samson was moved by the Spirit of God to desire this marriage; and
(2) that Samson desired to enter into it for the purpose of finding occasion to quarrel with the Philistines.
2. This view seems open to three fatal objections.
(1) The silence of Samson about any such movement of the Spirit of God.
(2) It makes God inspire Samson to go contrary to the spirit of His own law.
(3) It is opposed to the whole spirit of the narrative, which impresses one with the idea that Samson was sincere in his passion.
3. The marriage was of God, as the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar or the treachery of Judas, inasmuch as He permitted it and overruled it for bringing Samson into collision with the Philistines, and introducing him to the grand work of his life. (Thomas Kirk.)
A young lion . . . and he rent him.--
Bodily strength
1. Physical strength is not an index of moral power. That this man was mighty the lion and the Philistines found out, and yet he was the subject of petty revenges, and was ungianted by base passion. Oh! it is a shame that so much of the work of the Church and the world has been done by invalids, while the stout and the healthy men, like great hulks, were rotting in the sun. Richard Baxter, spending his life in the door of the tomb, and yet writing a hundred volumes and starting uncounted people on the way to the saints everlasting rest. Giants in body, be giants in soul!
2. Strength may do a great deal of damage if it is misdirected. To pay one miserable bet which this man had lost, he robs and slays thirty people. As near as I can tell, much of his life was spent in animalism, and he is a type of a large class of people in all ages who, either giants in body, or giants in mind, or giants in social position, or giants in wealth, use that strength for making the world worse instead of making it better. Who can estimate the soul-havoc wrought by Rousseau going forward with the very enthusiasm of iniquity and his fiery imagination affecting all the impulsive natures of his time? Or wrought by David Hume, who spent his lifetime, as a spider spends the summer, in weaving silken webs to catch the unwary? Or by Voltaire, who marshalled a host of sceptics in his time and led them on down into a deeper darkness?
3. A giant may be overthrown by a sorceress.
4. The greatest physical strength must crumble and give way. He may have had a longer grave and a wider grave than you and I will have, but the tomb was his terminus. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Brawn and muscle consecrated
We are often told that people must give account for their wealth, and so they must; and they must give account for their intelligence, and so they must; but no more than they must give account for the employment of their physical organism. Shoulder, arm, brain, knee, foot, all the forces that God has given us are we using them to make the world better or make it worse? Those who have strong arms, those who have elastic step, those who have clear eye, those who have steady brain, those are the men who are going to have the mightiest accounts to render. What are we doing with the faculties that God has given us? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Resist the devil
Sudden, surprising danger is brought before us here. How true that is of the life of young men still. Are there not temptations that leap upon us--spiritual wickednesses that come upon us unawares? This Samson was going down to Timnath on thoughts of love intent, never dreaming of such danger. A young lion roared against him. I thank God for the roar--for the sins that are unmistakable. You know where you are. But what are we to do with such temptations? First of all, do not run. Samson had great strength; he could stand and fight till his weapon clave to his fist; but I rather think running was not in his line. There was only one thing death or victory; and he ran all risks, and flung himself on the brute. So with certain sins. Do not dally with them; do not dodge--you cannot. Do not try, as some one has said, to think them down. It is utterly impossible; it is neither philosophical nor anything else. There is just one thing to do--accept them. Take them as they are, in all their ugliness and all their ferocity, and do not be afraid, but by faith and prayer imbrue your hand in their blood. Grip them, bring them out, face them, and slay them before the Lord. And do it quickly; make sure work of it no half-work of these lusts, like springing lions, that war against the soul. See how heaven and earth are mingled in that conflict. In order to tell this story completely, you have to bring in the supernatural--The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. Now, that control by the Spirit must be known by us; His power must be experienced. Without Him ye can do nothing. Without Him, the lion-like temptations, or the snake-like temptations, will lay hold of you and destroy you. But with the Spirit of God you are invincible; you have got the secret of the old warrior in classic story, who as often as he touched mother-earth found his strength return to him. Stand, says Paul. How? you ask. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, he replies. But notice further, there was nothing in his hand. No sword, no staff. An adumbration, a hint of the New Testament again: The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. To the eye of sense, the most defenceless babe in London is the young fellow, full of flesh and blood, who wants to hold the faith and fear of Jesus Christ. Wonder of wonders! He is not defenceless. Marvel of marvels, joy of heaven, disappointment of hell, he is not overcome! There are men and women to-day living a kind of salamander life; living in the flame, with the roar of the lion, and the hiss of the serpent, and the rattle of the snake, for ever in their ears; and they are not dead yet, and they never shall be. Yet they have nothing in their hands. How, then, do they live when others are pinned to the earth? The Spirit of the Lord is with them. He told not his father or mother what he had done. For a young Christian that is very helpful. Samson had his fine points about him. Like a great many other giants, he was a modest fellow. He bore his honours meekly. You may be like Samson. You may be a deal stronger and brighter than your fellows, and you may be able to cope with difficulties that overwhelm others. Cope with them, and hold your tongue. Perhaps you have escaped a lot of things that others have not escaped. But remember Samson. He did not halloo; and it well became him, for he was not out of the wood. Take care; there is no cause for fear; but there is no cause for boasting. Then another word from the eighth verse: After a time he returned, and he turned aside, etc. The picture is Samson going on eating that sweetmeat, and being refreshed by it; and you see at once the application of it. Sin faced, mastered, becomes a very eating and drinking as we go on our way. See how the believers path is a path going on from strength to strength. Crucifying the flesh is honey-sweetness. Do this to your temptations: get at the honey in the heart of their carcase when you have slain them; thereby reading Samsons riddle, Out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong comes forth sweetness. (J. McNeill.)
The sweet memory of triumph
1. The victory over the lion of unbelief.
2. The lion of temptation.
3. The lion of a rebellious spirit.
4. Death, the last enemy, shall also be vanquished. (T. Davies.)
He told not his father or his mother.--
Estrangement from home influences
All this was bad and dangerous. For by the constitution of what I take to have been his passionately kind and cordial, as well as most murderously resentful nature, he must have company and friends, and even confidants; and not finding them at home, he must go and seek them out for himself abroad, and be thus ever in danger of casting himself into the arms of those who lure him only to destruction. If you are taking up with other friends more readily, and are begun already to be more communicative to other counsellors out of doors, shutting your mouth, because you are more than willing now to shut your ears to such godly counsel as, both by their natural anxiety and their Christian vows, they find it incumbent on them to give--if you feel impatient of such restraint, and would even presume to treat it not a little imperiously, having chosen for yourselves counsellors of another spirit, and more likely to concur with the desires and devices of your own heart, which are many, then just see here how like sleepwalkers, with eyes glistening and staring wide, yet visionless as the blind, are you treading now on the very brink of that hidden gulf, into which if you fall but once, it may be never to rise again. (John Bruce, D. D.)
Honey in the carcase.--
Honey out of the dead lion
I. It is through divine strength that victories are won.
1. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on Samson. God trains men for the work they have to do; if they are to be deliverers, saviours, then their training shall be physical--as in the case of Samson; his conflict with the lion would prepare him for repeated encounters with the Philistines.
2. It was when Samson was about to enter public life that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. It is in the freshness of youth, before the mind is saturated with worldliness and the heart incrustated with selfishness, that there are Divine visitations.
II. Life is the history of victory and defeat. A man may slay a lion, but have no control over himself; he may be physically strong, but morally weak. Many of our defeats are to be traced to our self-confidence and self-love, to our forgetfulness of God. If we have won any victories, they are to be traced to Divine grace and strength.
III. Past victories are not to be forgotten. On a subsequent occasion Samson turned aside to see the lion he had slain. God will not have us forget the past, or the way by which we have reached our present position (Deu_8:2-5). All our Sabbaths, and sacraments, and sermons, are always saying to us, Thou shalt remember. They remind us of the great victory gained for us by the Captain of our salvation, in which we are permitted to claim our part.
IV. We get strength and encouragement from the remembrance of past victories. If ever you have slain a lion, be sure that eventually it will yield you honey. You have overcome doubt--you have strengthened faith. You have vanquished sin--you have increased holiness. You have conquered fear--you have gained strength. We learn, too, that there is a Divine power ever at work in this world. From the secret place of thunder come forth the streams that make glad the world. The light is born in darkness. Good comes out of evil. (H. J. Bevis.)
Hands full of honey
What a type we have here of our Divine Lord and Master, Jesus, the conqueror of death and hell! He has destroyed the lion that roared upon us and upon Him. He has shouted Victory! over all our foes. To each one of us who believe in Him He gives the luscious food which He has prepared for us by the overthrow of our foes; He bids us come and eat, that we may have our lives sweetened and our hearts filled with joy. The Samson type may well serve as the symbol of every Christian in the world.
I. The believers life has its conflicts. Learn, then, that if, like Samson, you are to be a hero for Israel, you must early be inured to suffering and daring in some form or other.
1. These conflicts may often be very terrible. By a young lion is not meant a whelp, but a lion in the fulness of its early strength; not yet slackened in its pace, or curbed in its fury by growing years. Fresh and furious, a young lion is the worst kind of beast that a man can meet with. Let us expect as followers of Christ to meet with strong temptations, fierce persecutions, and severe trials, which will lead to stern conflicts. These present evils are for our future good: their terror is for our teaching.
2. These conflicts come early, and they are very terrible; and, moreover, they happen to us when we are least prepared for them. Samson was not hunting for wild beasts; he was engaged on a much more tender business. He was walking in the vineyards of Timnath, thinking of anything but lions, and behold, says the Scripture, a young lion roared against him. It was a remarkable and startling occurrence. Samson stood an unarmed, unarmoured man in the presence of a raging beast. So we in our early temptations are apt to think that we have no weapon for the war, and we do not know what to do. We are made to cry out, I am unprepared! How can I meet this trial? Herein will the splendour of faith and glory of God be made manifest, when you shall slay the lion, and yet it shall be said of you that he had nothing in his hand--nothing but that which the world sees not and values not.
3. I invite you to remember that it was by the Spirit of God that the victory was won. We read, And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. Let the Holy Spirit help us in our trouble, and we need neither company nor weapon; but without Him what can we do?
II. The believers life has its sweets. What is more joyful than the joy of a saint!
1. Of these joys there is plenty. We have such a living swarm of bees to make honey for us in the precious promises of God, that there is more delight in store than any of us can possibly realise. There is infinitely more of Christ beyond our comprehension than we have as yet been able to comprehend. How blessed to receive of His fulness, to be sweetened with His sweetness, and yet to know that infinite goodness still remains!
2. Our joys are often found in the former places of our conflicts. We gather our honey out of the lions which have been slain for us or by us. There is, first, our sin. A horrible lion that! But it is a dead lion, for grace has much more abounded over abounding sin. I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and as a thick cloud thine iniquities. Here is choice honey for you! The next dead lion is conquered desire. When a wish has arisen in the heart contrary to the mind of God, and you have said, Down with you! I will pray you down. You used to master me; I fell into a habit and I was soon overcome by you; but I will not again yield to you. By Gods grace I will conquer you--I say, when at last you have obtained the victory such a sweet contentment perfumes your heart that you are filled with joy unspeakable, and you are devoutly grateful to have been helped of the Spirit of God to master your own spirit. Thus you have again eaten spiritual honey.
III. The believers life leads him to communicate of these sweets. As soon as we have tasted the honey of forgiven sin and perceived the bliss that God has laid up for His people in Christ Jesus, we feel it to be both our duty and our privilege to communicate the good news to others. Here let my ideal statue stand in our midst: the strong man, conqueror of the lion, holding forth his hands full of honey to his parents. We are to be modelled according to this fashion.
1. We do this immediately. The moment a man is converted, if he would let himself alone, his instincts would lead him to tell his fellows.
2. The believer will do this first to those who are nearest to him. Samson took the honey to his father and mother, who were not far away. With each of us the most natural action would be to tell a brother or a sister or a fellow-workman, or a bosom friend. It will be a great joy to see them eating the honey which is so pleasant to our own palate.
3. The believer will do this as best he can. Samson, you see, brought the honey to his father and mother in a rough-and-ready style, going on eating it as he brought it. Carry the honey in your hands, though it drip all round: no hurt will come of the spilling; there are always little ones waiting for such drops. If you were to make the gospel drip about everywhere, and sweeten all things, it would be no waste, but a blessed gain to all around. Therefore, I say to you, tell of Jesus Christ as best you can, and never cease to do so while life lasts.
4. But then Samson did another thing, and every true believer should do it too: he did not merely tell his parents about the honey, but he took them some of it. If your hands serve God, if your heart serves God, if your face beams with joy in the service of God, you will carry grace wherever you go, and those who see you will perceive it.
5. Take note, also, that Samson did this with great modesty. In telling your own experience be wisely cautious. Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He told not them that he had taken the honey.--
Samsons silence respecting the honey
Two reasons may be given for it.
1. To secure that his parents might eat the honey. According to the ceremonial law, the honeycomb, from its having been in contact with a dead body, was unclean, and the likelihood is that, if the parents of Samson had known the fact, they would have refused to eat it. Such a motive for his silence would be indeed discreditable; but it does not seem likely that such minute particulars of ceremonial observance, in that degenerate period, would be present to the mind of a young man of about nineteen years of age.
2. The other reason--and probably the true one--is, that he might ensure the success of his riddle at the marriage feast. Samson was gifted with a quick wit and ready invention. He saw, as he walked along, how the circumstance of getting the honey out of the carcase of the lion might be turned into a riddle for the entertainment of his guests, and so, in order to make sure that no inkling of it might get abroad, he resolved to keep it a secret. He was manifestly a young man who could keep his own counsel. (Thomas Kirk.)
I will now put forth a riddle unto you.--
Samsons riddle
By the goodness of God those things which once appeared unpleasant or injurious become real blessings.
1. This general observation may be applied to those painful convictions and apprehensions which sometimes harass the minds of beginners in religion. Many who have felt the deepest sorrow for sin have afterwards possessed the greatest degree of religious joy, and have loved much, because they knew that much was forgiven. Thus, then, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.
2. The same may be said of divers temptations with which a Christian may be exercised.
3. It is the lot of many, of very many good people, to be poor. Yet, even here, they gather honey from the carcase of the lion; for their various troubles give occasion for the exercise of humble resignation to the sovereign will of God. Constant dependence upon God is thereby promoted. Thankfulness is another fruit of sanctified affliction; for such is the ingratitude of our hearts, that we are scarcely sensible of the value of our mercies but by the loss or suspension of them. Another advantage which may be gained from poverty is, that the Christian is led to seek the things that are above.
4. Apply this sentiment to the person who is grievously afflicted with severe pains and bodily afflictions. We have borne chastisement; we will not offend any more, then is the purpose of Divine goodness in the visitation accomplished (Psa_119:67; Psa_119:71).
5. Domestic trials may produce the same advantages (1Co_7:29-31).
6. The same may be said with regard to disappointments in our worldly affairs.
7. Persecution is another of those evils to which the people of God are exposed. As long as there are men born after the flesh, there will be hatred and opposition against those who are born after the Spirit. But out of this unpromising lion sweet honey has been procured.
8. The subject may even be extended to death itself. The death of Christ, though according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, was effected by the cruel hands of wicked men. But bitter as seemed this event to the disciples; what ever produced so much sweetness? Apply this also to the death of believers. Nothing to nature is so formidable as death; it is the king of terrors; and through the fear of it, many are all their lifetime subject to bondage. Such, indeed, is the carcase of the lion; but search and see: is there no honey within? Is there nothing to lessen the terrors of the tomb, and reconcile man to the grave? Yes; there is much every way. The sting of death is extracted. And not only so, but death is gain. The Christian leaves a troublesome world, a diseased body, a disordered soul, to be with Christ, to behold His glory, to be perfectly like Him.
Conclusion:
1. Let us be led to adore the wisdom and goodness of God in bringing good out of evil.
2. On the contrary, it is painful to reflect on the state of worldly and wicked men, who are unhappily so entirely under the power of sin and Satan that they continually extract evil even from good.
3. What an argument may we derive from this subject for the commitment of ourselves and all our concerns into the hands of an all-wise and all-gracious God! (G. Burder.)
Fruits of conflict
I. In the history of civilisation we see how honey comes from the lion, rich fruitage from conflict. Men at first dwelt in caves. Navies were then only in forests, and railways in the mountains. Mens necessities goaded to effort. Even in Eden sinless man toiled; much more must sinful man toil. Think of the poverty and pains of Elias Howe, through long years of weary effort, before he perfected the sewing-machine; of the obscurity and penury out of which the great emancipator came who rent the lion of American slavery and rescued the slave; and of Him whom we worship as the Saviour of the race--if you would justly estimate the value and significance of disciplinary trial.
II. The conflicts of the church illustrate the same. In the glens and on the moors of Scotland thousands have fallen martyrs in struggles against superstition, etc.
III. Individual history. You are a business man. The prosperity you have has been gained by toil. These are the sweets that came from the lion of poverty and toil. You are a parent, and have suffered tribulation in the loss of dear ones. Good comes out of it if you love God, somehow, as purity comes to the atmosphere after the thunderstorm. I saw recently, in the gallery of the Royal Academy in Edinburgh, the face of St. Paul painted with an encircling cloud full of angels. It held me as no other picture, and I thought that every cloud which darkens the believers way is full of angels, if he did but know it. Conclusion: There are three ways of conquering a foe--you may knock, talk, or live him down. Choose the last. Though others are bad, be yourselves good. (C. Easton.)
The wedding riddle and tragedy
1. I do not see anything wrong in Samson making a feast, as the young men used to do. It belonged to the bride and her friends to say what its details should be. In so far, then, as he could comply with the customs of her people without sinning we find no fault. The Bible does not require us to be proud, mopish, rude, supercilious, or ill-behaved. The want of genuine politeness is no proof of true religion.
2. At weddings it was common to have games, riddles, and the like amusements. An old scholiast on Aristophanes is quoted by Dr. Clark as saying that it was a custom among the ancient Greeks to propose, at their festivals, what were called griphoi, riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those who found them out, which generally consisted either in a festive crown or a goblet full of wine. Those who failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with sea water, which they were compelled to take down at one draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown to the deity in honour of whom the festival was made; and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given to him who proposed it. It were a much better way to spend our time at seasons of merry-making in expounding enigmas and riddles than in slandering our neighbours or in gluttony or excessive drink. At our weddings let there be entertainment for the mind, as well as employment for the palate. Our social habits and opportunities should be diligently employed in doing and receiving good. At the wedding all goes on merrily. Sport and play are in the ascendant. The cup-questions were as sparkling as the cups. Many were the passages at Wit. At last Samson is aroused. He says, I will propose a riddle. If they solve his riddle, he is to pay thirty changes of raiment. If they fail, they are to pay him one change of raiment apiece. Samson had an odd humour generally of pitting himself against great odds. No doubt he thought himself sure of victory.
3. The solution is given at the appointed hour. Josephus paraphrases the interview thus: They said to Samson, Nothing is more disagreeable than a lion to those that light on it, and nothing is sweeter than honey to those that make use of it. To which he replied: Nothing is more deceitful than a woman; for such was the perfidious person that discovered my interpretation to you. He meant, doubtless, that without the assistance of his wife they could not have told the riddle. And on this plea, he might have disputed whether they were entitled to the forfeit.
4. Though betrayed and badly treated, Samson scorns to complain, but goes right off to procure the means to pay his forfeit. He was neither a cruel husband nor a repudiator.
5. Samsons anger was kindled, and he went up to his fathers house. Anger is as natural as a smile. His wifes treachery was a just cause of anger, and his going up to his fathers house at this time showed unusual prudence and forbearance. When he returned to Timnath to pay the forfeit, he seems not to have seen his wife. But lordly as Achilles, and quite as angry and proud in his self-consciousness of unmerited wrong and impulsive ferocity, he strides off home to his father and mother. It was not wise for him to trust himself in his wifes presence when the sense of his wrongs was so warm within him. But Samsons wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. That is, she was given by her father and the chiefs of the town in marriage to his first groomsman. Although she had but little liberty in the matter, still no doubt she was glad the Hebrew was gone, and that she was the wife of his friend. How far Samson was justified in leaving his wife is not altogether clear from the text. Most probably he did not intend a final separation, although this was the result. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Samsons riddle
The pathway of life has many a lion in it, and our success and happiness depend very much on the way we deal with them. Nearly all the strongest men in our great cities had to encounter, early poverty and hardships; their limited education was got at the cost of self-denial, but learning was all the sweeter when they found it in the carcase of the slain lion. Had there been no Samson in all such young men they would have been frightened by discouragement into a helpless obscurity. One of the Christian leaders in New York tells us that he never has found greater enjoyment in his fine library than he found in the second-hand book which he purchased with his first shilling and read in his fathers rustic cabin. Every good enterprise has its lions. Things that cost little count little. When a handful of Christians undertake to build up a mission school in some wretched neighbourhood, or to build a church in some destitute region, they find difficulties roaring against them like the wild beast in the vineyard of Timnath. These obstacles endear their work to them. There is a spiritual enjoyment in the after-results of their hard toils that they never could have known if their work had been easier. A sermon heard in a frontier church, whose erection cost sharp sacrifice, after a ten-mile ride over a country road, has some honey in it to a hungry Christian. Did you ever face a lion in undertaking the spiritual reformation of some hardened sinner? And had you ever a sweeter banquet of soul than when you saw him sitting beside you at Christs table? Even the performance of a duty which presented a disagreeable front has a peculiar satisfaction in it. Captain Hedley Vicars encountered a shower of scoffs from his brother officers in the Crimean army when he was first converted. But he put his Bible on his table in his tent, and stood by his colours. Henceforth, the lion was not only slain, but there was rich honey in the carcase when his religious influence became a power in his regiment. Lifes sweetest enjoyments are gathered from the victories of faith. Out of slain lions come forth meat; out of conquered foes to the soul come its sweetest honeycombs. One of the joys of heaven will be the remembrance of victories won during our earthly conflicts. (T. L. Cuyler.)
Out of strength, sweetness
Strength and sweetness may be taken as in some way a formula of human perfection. They are qualities which may have a certain hidden connection and interdependence, and yet which men usually expect to find, not together, but apart. Sometimes it is the strength that makes upon us the first and deepest impression--as, for instance, in Luther, a man of gigantic force and grasp; before whose fixed will and undaunted perseverance the Papacy itself totters. And yet in the familiar talk which happily survives to tell what manner of man he was, how kindly he shows himself, how gentle, how full of domestic cheerfulness and mirth, how loving to little children! So perhaps in Luthers master, Paul, it is the strength which dared and endured so much that first makes its mark upon us: we marvel at the inexhaustible energy which founded so many churches, traversed the civilised world hither and thither, survived such various hardships, could know no pleasure, enjoy no rest, so long as an opportunity remained of speaking a word or winning a soul for Christ. And yet, as we look more closely, we note how this restlessly energetic apostle is still the prophet--I had almost said the poet--of Christian love; keeps his sway over mens minds by the charm of sweetness. On the other hand, it is peculiar to that type of character which we call the saintly to make an impression of sweetness, which diverts attention from the hidden strength within: that St. Francis should draw hearts of like pulse to his own, and live the centre of a brotherhood of love, we can understand; while that he should be a power in the Church for centuries, begetting spiritual sons through generation after generation, is a fact that startles us into the search for its explanation. But the consummate instance of this kind of character is the Master Himself. In Him men see and feel the sweetness, but they have to learn the strength. They are swayed, but so gently that they are hardly conscious of the force, which nevertheless they are unable to resist. These examples are all taken from the high places of humanity: let us look a little nearer home. We may admit without any difficulty that there is a strength which has no sweetness in it; which puts itself forth and strives towards its own ends, without caring what other forces it jostles against, or even what hearts it tramples on; which, wholly self-centred, goes on its way with all the hardness which comes of pure and unalloyed selfishness. But whether such strength is not in its nature partial and incomplete, whether its very lack of sweetness does not argue a certain narrowness of scope and meanness of aim, I will rather ask than pause to prove. With all the finest strength we associate the idea of magnanimity; and what we call greatness of mind has in it precisely the quality which I attributed to the powers of nature, of being concerned with things on the largest scale, and yet easily and unconsciously bending to things on the least. This, however, is not the point to which I chiefly ask your attention; but rather that, though there is a sweetness of disposition, undoubtedly genuine and lovable after its kind, which does not co-exist with force of character, the truest and noblest sweetness is that which cometh out of the strong. For this last is no mere yieldingness and flexibility of heart, which is willing to take men for their outward seeming and at their own valuation, but a keen and large discernment of what elements of nobleness are really in them; not a desire that the complicated machine of society should run smoothly, and unpleasant things be hidden out of sight, and a general pretence established that life holds no sin and is stained by no shame, but a true reaching forth towards the essential harmony in which all Gods world is compact together, an aspiration after the peace which comes of all places filled and all rights respected. (C. Beard, B. A.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.— Jdg_14:1. Timnath.] This was a town on…
SAMSON’S FIRST DEALINGS WITH THE PHILISTINES
(Jdg_14:1-20.)
Read full note →
CRITICAL NOTES.— Jdg_14:1. Timnath.] This was a town on the frontier which, like many other towns had been at first assigned to Judah to subdue and occupy (Jos_15:57), but as Dan had too small a territory for its people, it and other towns were transferred to Dan. It is referred to in Jos_15:43, also in ch. Jdg_15:10. It was only a few miles from Samson’s mountain home, and though it should have all along belonged to the Israelites, the tribe whose duty it was to subdue it, failed to do so through unbelief: and now the usual bitter fruits are reaped.
Jdg_14:2. Get her for me to wife.] Heb. Take (לָקַח) Exo_21:9. Though Samson may have come of age
(18), it was customary for the parents to transact the arrangements, as they had the duty of paying the wife’s dowry to the parents of the bride. What is here recorded is a bad beginning for the public life of a man, who was chosen to be a deliverer of God’s Israel from their bondage. It has been suggested that it is only the briefest notices that are here given of his life, and there “may (as in Jacob’s case), have been in him many exercises of true piety which, if told, would throw another light on his character.” This, indeed, is not only possible but probable. It seems at any rate, that the reason for selecting the incidents here related to be put on record, was because this was the first occasion when he had the opportunity of showing himself as the public opponent of the Philistines. Indeed this is hinted at in Jdg_14:4.
Jdg_14:3. That thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines.] His parents remonstrated. They were astonished at the proposal he made, and began to reason. It was unnatural in itself, and it was in express opposition to the Divine law (Exo_34:16; Deu_7:3-4). But Samson being an only son would in all likelihood have been accustomed to carry all points his own way. For we are told that he prevailed on his parents to accompany him (Jdg_14:5.)
Jdg_14:4. His father and mother knew not that it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion against the Philistines.] This applies to Samson. Probably what took him down to Timnath at first was, that now being come of age it was time for him to begin the work he was raised up to do. For he had frequently felt the promptings of the Spirit of the Lord to begin the work. Now, therefore, as soon as he was entitled to go, he went to the camp of the enemy to “find some occasion” for beginning his work. Badly as the story tells for Samson, it would be to put a needlessly harsh construction on his conduct to say that he went simply on an idle stroll, or that he went in sportive mood. There is an important meaning in the statement that “he sought an occasion against the Philistines.” He went, not knowing what might turn up, but his object was not merely to enjoy himself or have a little pastime. He wished to find some opportunity of commencing the duties of his high vocation. But he went unguarded against temptation, both as to eyes and ears (Psa_119:37; Job_31:1; Job_31:7).
The Philistines had dominion over Israel.] The crushing character of this dominion and its infinite degradation may be learned from 1Sa_13:6-7; also 1Sa_13:19-21.
Jdg_14:5. And his father and mother.] They went against their better judgment, being overcome by his importunity.
A young lion roared against him.] Being near the vineyards, probably in the valley of Sorek (Ch. Jdg_16:4), famous for its vines (Jer_2:21; Isa_5:2), for the word Sorek means a choice vine.
Jdg_14:6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.] Gave him superhuman strength, as a pledge of what he might expect to receive when fighting against men.
And he rent him as he would have rent a kid.] With as much ease, for all power is of God and He can make the human arm stronger than the jaws of the lion. Samson seems to have strayed into the bush, when he may have met the lion perhaps in the pursuit of jackals or foxes, that were often found in vineyards (Son_2:15). His father and mother were not with him there. Hercules was most formidable in his wrestlings, but it was chiefly with beasts. Samson was raised up to be a conqueror of men. This passing encounter with a lion would never have gained him a high name in Israel even if frequently repeated. He had a mission to deliver God’s Church. It is to be noticed that the word used here for lion does not mean a whelp, but one that has attained its strength, and is full of the natural fierceness. פְפִיר means a terrible lion, one with a bloodthirsty character, or that has all its natural savageness of nature fully developed. Yet he tore its jaws asunder, as easily as he would have rent in pieces so slender an animal as a kid.
He told not his father and mother.] With all his self-will he seems deeply to have loved his parents, and where there is love there will always be some measure of respect. Hence he would not like to horrify them with the recital of so wild a story as the encounter with the lion. It might fill their minds with troublesome suspicions as to what he might do next, and so he would forfeit their confidence. Many would have boasted of such an exploit, and blazoned it abroad through the world. That was not Samson’s weak point. No one seems to have known of it for many months, until the solution of the riddle brought it out. He was not killed with vanity. The exploits of other heroes in their lion encounters were better known. Benaiah was known as the man who slew a lion in a pit in the time of snow. Wicker Von Schwabur, a hero in the time of the Crusades, killed a great lion with the sword near Joppa, and Godfrey, of Bouillon, stood his ground against a bear in like manner. The lion fight of the fabled Hercules, in Nemea, is also well known The Arabian Antar conquers a lion although the hero’s feet are fettered. But these two latter are little better than myths. There is one noble exception to the vain glory which accompanies any such heroic deed, in the case of the youthful shepherd of Bethlehem. But, indeed, both Samson and David might well have been afraid to boast of a power which was supernaturally given, and which showed the gracious protection of their covenant God.
Jdg_14:7. Talked with the woman.] According to usage free conversation between the parties was not allowed till the affiancing took place. With the interview he had with the young woman Samson was pleased, and wished the arrangement to proceed.
Jdg_14:8. An after a time.] Betrothing means giving one’s troth, or faithful promise to marry a a future time. This time was at least six months, oftener a year, or more, after betrothal, but during the interval the woman was considered as the lawful wife of the man to whom she was betrothed (Mat_1:18; Luk_1:26-27). It must then have been either several months, ora whole twelvemonth, after this ceremony, that Samson now went down to take his wife.
He turned aside to see the carcass of the lion.] It could hardly have been a twelvemonth, when the carcass lay there untouched all the time, even though it was not in the beaten path. As the hero passed near the spot the incident came into his mind, and under some pretext he left his parents for a little that he might look again on the scene of his memorable deliverance. This trivial circumstance was the leading of God’s providence, for something great came of it. He found all that was most perishable of the beast long since gone, and nothing but the skeleton left, in which, to his no small surprise, was a swarm of bees. Bees as a rule avoid both dead bodies and carrion. Bees are so careful to select clean spots for their place of settlement, that a dead carcass was about the last place where they might be expected to alight. In the present case, however, everything that was noxious about the dead body bad become long since dried up, both through lapse of time and the intense heat. Nothing of an offensive odour remained. There was no putrefaction.
Honey.] Debash, the ordinary word, or Dvash, as some would make it. Deborah using r for s is the word for bee.
Jdg_14:9. He took thereof in his hands.] There must have been an abundant supply, for he gave some both to his father and mother, as well as partook of it liberally himself. Had his parents known where it was found, they would have rejected it as being unclean.
Jdg_14:10. His father went down.] He only is mentioned as the head of the party, but the mother and other friends were doubtless there. Samson made a feast.] “There is a time to laugh and a time to dance, as well as a time to mourn and weep” (Ecc_3:4). This feast was on such a scale as to indicate wealth on the part of him who made it. It lasted seven days and embraced a large company. But it was customary, and to observe the custom was reckoned necessary to respectability.
Jdg_14:11. When they saw him they brought thirty companions to be with him.] These were called the “children of the bride-chamber” (Mat_9:15; Mat_25:1-12). But usually it was young women that went out to meet the bridegroom, while here it is young men that are mentioned. Also they were chosen by the bride’s friends, not by those on Samson’s side. Hence Josephus supposes they were chosen under pretence of doing him honour, while in reality they were meant to be a guard upon him (Josephus, Bertheau, Trapp, &c., &c.) The great strength of Samson must already have been begun to be talked about, and it must have been known, to some extent, that he was raised up to be a deliverer in Israel. This was quite in keeping with the phrase “they were with him.” They seemed to be friends of the bridegroom, yet may have been spies upon him in reality, and a band of men to overpower him, if any hostility should be displayed by him. This would be in keeping with their conduct described in Jdg_14:15.
Jdg_14:12. I will now put forth a riddle unto you.] Biddies were then, as now, much regarded as a means of amusement, or exciting interest on festive occasions. Thirty sheets (shirts) meaning clothes worn next the skin; and thirty changes of garments.] Costly dresses that were frequently changed (Gen_45:22). To propose such riddles at banquets by way of entertainment was customary among the ancient Grecians. Such clothes are referred to in 2Ki_5:5; 2Ki_5:22; Isa_3:6-7; Mat_6:19; Gen_45:22.
Jdg_14:14. Out of the eater came forth meat, &c.] The spirit of this statement which is antithetical is “Food came from the devourer, and sweetness from that which is bitter.”
But care must be taken not to push the antithesis too far. We must be guided by the actual fact, and also by the words of the text. The lion, to which the propounder of the riddle referred is distinguished not by bitterness, nor by sourness, but by strength, so that our English translation after all best corresponds with the fact-“out of the strong, etc.” This, too, is confirmed by the answer given in the solution of the riddle—“what is stronger than a lion?” Besides the word in the text (עַז) does not mean “bitter,” or “sour,” but “strong.”
Jdg_14:15. On the seventh day.] For three days they tried hard to solve it but without success. They then gave it up till the seventh, when, as a last resort, they began to press hard on Samson’s wife, threatening her with a terrible doom if she did not get the solution from her husband. “So doth the devil oftentimes do. Many a man’s head he breaketh with his own rib; and this bait he hath found to take so well, that he has never changed it since he crept into Paradise” [Trapp], This showed at once the baseness of their spirit, and the atrocious length in wickedness to which, if baffled, they were disposed to go.
Is it not so?] Meaning: You have called us to the feast, that by means of this riddle you might get from us all that we have. Your object has been to plunder us. Is it not so?
Jdg_14:17. And she wept before him the seven days.] A Jewish mode of speaking, meaning, unto the seventh day, or as some would make it, the rest of the seven days. It might simply mean, that, more or less with tears she asked him to tell her every one of the seven days, her motives being partly curiosisy, and still more, apprehensions of a disastrous issue to their hilarity should no solution be found. This would be intensely increased when, with loud voices, they threatened, as the time drew near, to burn her and her father’s house with fire unless she should find out an explanation—hence on the seventh day particularly, “she lay sore upon him” until lie told her. A woman’s tears are her arguments, which oftentimes prove more powerful than all the logic of the other sex. They reach the heart by a more direct route than the understanding. Alexander of Greece replied to one who sent him a long letter complaining of his mother’s conduct, “one tear of my mother’s will blot out a thousand such letters.”
She told it to the children of the people.] In this she proved a traitor to the interests of her husband, both because she was bound to consult his interests first, and also because she ought to have known that he was well able to defend her from all evil. Her affection was manifestly a mere pretence; but she was a true Philistine.
Jdg_14:18. Before the sun went down.] Sunset was the end of the day, and so they were within the mark. Their statement meant, that the meat came from an animal that was distinguished for devouring meat, not supplying it, and that the meat supplied was honey, the sweetest of all kinds of food.
If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, etc.] Samson in a moment detected the treachery, for no one else knew anything of the story which he kept studiously concealed; and he pointedly told them it was owing to their plotting with his wife that the discovery had been made. In a case of such palpable unfairness, he might have refused to acknowledge himself to be under obligation to stand by the original terms proposed, but rather than incur the suspicion of dishonour, he nobly resolved to pass by the affront, and to pay the forfeit agreed on, more especially as this would give him occasion to fulfil his mission for the smiting of the Philistines. This tends to raise him in our estimation, if we could get over his capital error in wedding a Philistine at all.
Jdg_14:19. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.] These impulses came when God had work for him to do, but were not always with him. The prophets had not always the gift of prophecy, nor the apostles always the power of working miracles.—(Trapp). Samson seemed to feel that his vocation was to smite the Philistines on every fit opportunity given. Now he felt he had such an opportunity, and he resolved to punish the enemy that had dared to attack the people of Jehovah, and to pour contempt on His name.
Went down to Ashkelon.] There were many nearer at hand, but these may have been ring-leaders in raids made on the homes of Israel, or, more likely, he did not wish to create too great a sensation about the matter by destroying members of families in the immediate neighbourhood. The persons killed must have been high in social rank, when there were so many changes of raiment. That which Israel’s champion flung at the feet of these vile cheaters was the attire of their own countrymen.
His anger was kindled, etc.] The base treachery of his wife on the occasion of their marriage festivity, the fact that her relatives supported her in her infidetity to him, and the apparent conspiracy of the whole Philistine community to give contemptuous treatment to an Israelitish family; all filled him with indignation, so that in place of returning for his wife he left the whole pack behind him, and directed his steps to his father’s house, a sadder but a wiser man. How sweet is home after a taste of the bitterness of the world! His home was in Zorah, which but for him would scarcely have been known to the world, just as Arpinum was known from its connection with Cicero, and Hippo was famous through Augustine.
Jdg_14:20. Samson’s wife was given to his companion, etc.] As soon as his back was turned, the unprincipled Philistine gave his daughter to be the wife of another man—the very man who had acted as the friend of the bridegroom! Such was the bitter fruit of an unhallowed alliance (Jer_2:19).
Before proceeding to examine the details of this wonderful history, it may serve a good purpose first to look at it in its leading outlines. The judgment to be formed on the whole character of any man cannot be correct, if founded only on one or two acts of his life, and pre-eminently so in a case like that before us. It will greatly help to a just estimate on this important point, as well as aid us in a correct interpretation of individual particulars, if we first take a general view of the history in so far as it is given, and then take the details in their order.
GENERAL VIEW OF SAMSON’S HISTORY
I. It presents to us a puzzling character.
It is a character where opposite and seemingly contradictory phases are continually appearing. In every page of the account, inconsistencies occur so painfully, that we are perplexed what to make of a personality so unique. From the preliminary statement made in chap. 13 by an “angel of the Lord,” we are prepared to expect a man of peculiar sanctity of manner, of strong spiritual life, and one singularly free from worldly defilement, to make his appearance when he comes forth as God’s servant to do God’s work, under a more than ordinary effusion of the Divine Spirit’s influence. But instead of that, the man who actually steps forward is one of a lower type than any name in the whole list of those who are called to be the “saviours” of God’s Israel. It would be hard to say whether he did more good or evil when fulfilling his course, though by profession he stood strongly on the side of good. Instead of being a frequent associate of the righteous, we find him almost constantly in the society of the wicked. For those who look on he is more a beacon of warning than an example for guidance and encouragement.
No good man indeed, is entirely free from faults so long as he remains “in this wicked worl.” (Ecc_7:20). Here, however, is the case of a good man with great faults, but without correspondingly great excellences. It was not so with the other good men of scripture history. If David sinned once very grievously in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, and not infrequently said and did things inconsistent with a profession of genuine piety, he left behind him an unmistakable expression of heart-sorrow for his great sin, besides a whole volume of compositions that no man could have penned, whose bosom was not daily filled with the very spirit of heaven. If Jacob showed not a little of cunning and deceit in the early portion of his history, the vision of the ladder and the angels, his wrestling with the angel, and the whole of the latter part of his career, bring out strongly redeeming features of character. But with Samson there are no Alpine heights of excellence, such as to prove beyond doubt the heaven-soaring tendency of the general character. There is only a little eminence now and again rising above the plain, to set over against the morasses and marshy ground which shed a pestilential vapour over the surface.
But undoubtedly Samson had his good points of character, though there was much in his conduct to be condemned. If he had a comparatively low place in the kingdom of God, it would be obviously wrong to suppose that he had no place there at all.
Notice—
1. The good features of his history.
(1.) He was specially raised up by God Himself. His very existence was owing to the fact that God had a special work to do, and he was brought into existence to do it. His mother was barren, so that he could not have been born without a special Divine interposition. His very being thus partook of a sacred character. He was indeed a member of the fallen human race and liable to sin like other men, yet being directly provided by God, being commissioned by Him to do a work which he purposed to do, and being specially qualified by Him for the performance of that work, he must have been in a proper sense approved by God. John the Baptist was thus raised up by God (Joh_1:6). So was Isaac (Gen_17:19; Gen_18:11). So was Samuel (1Sa_1:11; 1Sa_1:20). All these were holy characters. All inspired men were “holy men,” whether prophets or apostles (2Pe_1:21). Also all the “judges” of Israel appear to have been men who feared God, and wrought righteousness. It is questionable whether God ever called any wicked man into His service to do a work which had for its object the promotion of His glory. Balaam was indeed a wicked man, but he was not raised up by God, nor sent on a commission by Him. He was allowed to go to meet Balak with a wicked purpose in his heart, which God checked by turning the curse into a blessing. Judas was not honoured with a place among those whom Christ commissioned to set up His kingdom on earth, for he had left his Master’s side and had “gone to his own place,” before the commission was given. We have not a single instance of a really wicked man being specially raised up by God and sent to bless the people. This alone is a strong presumption, if not a decisive proof, that Samson, whatever his faults may have been, was at heart a man approved of by God.
(2.) The mission on which he was sent was of a holy character. It was to be the Deliverer and Protecter of God’s peculiar people. In reality he was sent to be the preserver of God’s cause in the earth; for the office of that people was to uphold the honour of God’s name, and to set up a standard for His worship among men. Is it likely, or even possible, that an ungodly man could be chosen by God for this purpose?
(3.) He was a Nazarite from the beginning to the end of his life. (Jdg_13:5) This implies that he was vowed to the Lord, and that his life itself was a consecration to the service of the Lord (comp. 1Sa_1:11). “This consecration had its roots in living faith, and its outward manifestation negatively, in absence from everything unclean, positively, in wearing the hair uncut.” [Keil]. The person of Samson wearing the character of a Nazarite was made use of by God as a picture, to show to His people, that their weakness lay in losing their character as consecrated to Him, and mixing themselves up with unclean persons and things, whereas, by vowing themselves to be His all life through, and jealously avoiding everything that would contaminate them as a holy nation, they would acquire a strength that would make them invincible. Samson was in this sense a parable to Israel. one put into this position by God Himself surely must have had the roots of a genuine religious character.
(4.) He was a child of prayer, and had a pious training. From Jdg_13:8-9 we conclude, that his father was accustomed to approach his God in prayer, in such a manner that his petitions were heard, for his difficulty he referred to Him, and his desire was granted. His prayer must have been well pleasing to God, and its being so on this occasion is a proof that it must have been so on other occasions. We may feel justified in regarding him as an “Israelite indeed,” for the whole account bears out that he was a righteous man. Not less so was his wife (Jdg_5:23). The honour conferred on them by the angel’s visit, and the special gift bestowed, prove this. Probably the gift of a son was in answer to their prayers, as in the case of Hannah. We may assume then, without being expressly told, that Samson had pious parents who were in the practice of prayer, and that they prayed much for their only son, so specially given.
As to his training, he could see nothing but good in such a household. The fear of God was in that home habitually, and being a mountain home it stood apart from the outside polluting world. The name of the true God alone was worshipped, and His laws were obeyed.
(5.) The Lord specially blessed him. We never hear of God conferring a special blessing on a man who did not bear something of God’s image. (see p. 471.)
(6.) The Spirit of God often came upon him. We admit the important distinction between the natural and the gracious operations of the Divine Spirit, the latter being the peculiar privilege of the righteous, while the former, not relating directly to salvation, might be given to those whose hearts are not right with God. Yet in another aspect of the case, nothing is more sacred than God’s own character, and when even the natural influences of the Spirit are given to preserve that, they are given for a sacred purpose, and so are fitly conferred only on those who are “chosen vessels” to the Lord.
It is certainly a strong presumption that that man is himself a man of God, on whom the Spirit of the Lord should descend so often as He did on Samson, for purposes which concerned the honour of the Divine name. The cases referred to in 1Sa_10:11, and Mat_7:22-23, are exceptional, and do not imply that these persons had a direct commission from God, to vindicate the honourof His holy name as Samson undoubtedly had.
(7.) He lived a life of faith in the God of Israel. This was the whole bearing of his life. Though having so much to do with the worshippers of other gods, it underlies his whole history, that he kept his trust in the one living and true God. He regarded himself as the “servant of the God of Israel,” and the Philistines whom he slew in such numbers he looked on as the “uncircumcised,” who had put forth unhallowed hands against the people who were under special Divine protection. There was thus a tone of reverence in the doing of his work. It was done to God, and for the honour of His name. Besides, he did not rely on his own arm for victory or deliverance, though that was exceptionally strong, but he looked to God as his buckler and shield, and ascribed to Him all the glory of the victories he gained. “Thou hast given this great deliverance to thy servant” (Jdg_15:18). This an ungodly man was not very likely to do. It is a sure proof of faith, as opposed to mere patriotism. The one has respect to God and His glory, while the other is concerned with our own glory, and that of the community with whom we are associated. The latter, though praiseworthy and to be commended, is of a greatly lower mark than the former.
The principle of his life was that of faith in the God of Israel, and hence we find his name put down in the list of those that are to be had in everlasting remembrance in the Church of God (Heb_11:32). As the basis of his conduct, he believed in God in all things, and took direction in life from Him, though frequently his practice was at variance with his profession.
II. The bad features of his history.
(1.) He became the intimate and frequent associate of the wicked. It is indeed a modifying element in the case, that his life-work consisted very much in being a scourge to the enemies of God’s Israel, and therefore, that it was his duty to look out for occasions when he might discharge this work, yet it is strange that we never hear of his asking counsel at the mouth of the Lord, for direction in the fulfilment of his duty. In the case of most others who were sent on a special mission by God, we find there was frequent communication between them and their God for direction in the way of duty, before they started on their course. This was the case with Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and Jephthah, not to mention other names. But here there is not a word of intercourse between God and His servant, before the latter embarks on his hazardous course. There is no prayer of any kind, by way of committing his steps into the hands of God, as in the case of Jacob (Genesis 28). Nor do we hear of any precautions taken to avoid the sunken rocks, and dangerous whirlpools of the voyage of human life before him. The instinct of a man whose piety had a healthful tone would have suggested the propriety of doing both these things before he entered on his work.
It was symptomatic of a low state of piety, when Samson, a young man, inexperienced in the ways of the world, went out alone into such a society as that of the Philistines, without special prayer, and without much of the spirit of watchfulness. We might add, he seems to have had no definite plan before him, as to what he should do. The lines are not indeed inapplicable—
“Satan finds some mischief still,
For idle hands to do.”
His visit to Timnath seems to have been aimless and censurable. This would make him all the more likely to catch infection from an evil atmosphere. The best supposition we can make is, that he went to see what God would set before him to do among these oppressors when actually on the ground. But he seems to have heard no voice calling to him in serious tones “enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.” (Pro_4:14; Pro_4:13; Pro_13:20; 2Co_6:14-17).
Two things are specially unfavourable in his intercourse with these wicked, of a general kind. one is, that he went among them as one off his guard. This he must have known to be wrong, for no charge was given to parents more impressively, than that they should teach their children to avoid the companionship of the heathen around them. And Samson’s parents were least of all likely to forget this in the case of an only son, and one who was a Nazarite from his youth up. The other unfavourable feature is, that he spent the most of his public life among the idol-worshippers. A healthful spirituality of character repels all close intercourse with moral evil. “Gather not my soul with sinners, &c.” (Psa_16:3; 2Co_6:14; Psa_26:5; Psa_119:63; Psa_119:158). He had indeed much to do in the way of chastising these people as a matter of duty; and it is to his credit, that, though he stood among them alone, he was never tempted for a moment to renounce the God of Israel, for the sake of joining with them in their idol-worship. Yet it is a matter of sorrow, that we never hear of this champion of God’s cause associating with any other class of men but these uncircumcised.
(2.) His intermarriage with a Philistine family. (a.) This was a breach of a solemn law laid down by God. Before the chosen people entered Canaan, they were expressly and repeatedly informed, that the inhabitants of the land were to be destroyed judicially because of their enormous wickedness, that they must not associate with them as friends, or even as neighbours, and much less were they to think of associating with them by marriage relationships. This was said especially of seven nations that are specified by name (Deu_7:1-4; Jos_23:12-13). See above on Jdg_3:6-7. The Philistines are not mentioned by name in this list, yet they belonged to the same class of nations, and were guilty of the same sins. All the reasons for keeping aloof from the Canaanites applied equally to these Philistines. Intermarriage with a Philistine therefore, was an act of disobedience to a Divine command.
(b.) It was an express dishonour done to the name of God. All who were jealous for the honour of God, were bound to make a loud protest against the manner in which that honour was laid in the dust by these profane idol-worshippers. To stand by and look on with unconcern, while the greatest indignity was done to the name of the great Jehovah, was itself to incur the heavy expression of the Divine displeasure. Much more heinous was the conduct of those, who should join hands in the fastest friendship with the blasphemers of that holy and dreadful name. There was no middle course in such a case. “The friendship of the world was held to be enmity with God.”
(c.) It was to bring a blight on one’s personal religion. It exposed one to strong temptations every hour of the day—to love the creature more than the Creator. The situation was so perilous to one’s stability of principle, that not even the strongest built-up religious character could resist the aggressions of evil influence constantly coming in, without the help of the grace of God in keeping the feet from falling. A man’s greatest enemy in such a case was one of his own house, and even of his own bosom. True piety to the God of Israel could not possibly flourish, in a circle where a believer was joined in wedlock with an idolater. “No one can serve two masters.” And so it turned out, that these unnatural intermarriages always led to apostasy from the living and true God.
(3.) His deeds of blood and revenge. one of these was his visit to Ashkelon, and there putting to death thirty men in cold blood, all of them unknown to him, and who had done him no harm. His only motive was, to find the rich dresses which he required to pay the costs of his wager. Again we see him, in mad anger, burning the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives, over many acres of the best part of the country. On two other occasions he makes a great slaughter among the Philistines, the motives of which are revenge. In these and similar deeds which are recorded, he doubtless fulfilled his vocation so far in punishing that oppressing people for their cruelty to God’s Israel; but, in most cases, the immediate reason he had for these steps was his desire for revenge. In so far as that was his prompting motive, it cannot be justified.
(4.) His licentiousness. This has usually been reckoned the great blot in Samson’s character, and on looking at all the facts given in the record, we see no other conclusion possible than that, to a certain extent, he is fairly chargeable with it; not that he was a habitual libertine, but being of impulsive character he was liable to fall before temptation. The account given in Judges 14 is not conclusive, for though he loved a woman in the Philistine city of Timnath, he appears to have acted honourably in wishing to be married to her, according to the rules of propriety then generally recognised. His error in this chapter consisted chiefly in wedding a Philistine. But his conduct as detailed in Judges 16 is altogether inexcusable. Impurity between the sexes is a sin condemned alike by the moral instinct of every rightly constituted mind, and by the express denunciations of the word of God.
That this is one of the grosser sins needs no proof. In regard to no sin has God implanted a deeper sense of shame than this, nor has any been surrounded with a stronger natural restraint to prevent its commission. It implies, too, the subjection of the spiritual element in our nature to the animal, or the ascendancy of the bestial over that which we have in common with the angelic nature. No wonder that a deep shadow falls on the name of Samson, from what is here recorded. But yet serious mistakes have been made.
II. How are we to judge this character?
No man’s sins should be looked at in the abstract, or apart from the cloud of circumstances, under which they have been committed. There are always considerations which will either deepen or lessen the criminality of the case in hand, though in no case can the criminality of a really sinful act be entirely taken away.
(1.) It is but a specimen of the conduct, not the whole life that is given in Scripture. We have indeed but nine special acts recorded from first to last each of which could not have occupied much time in the transacting. But he had twenty years of public life, and from these nine acts, we are left to judge of the character of the whole life. Doubtless, in so far as such a small number of acts could indicate the spirit of the man’s life, we must hold the selection to be well made; yet, we must not forget, that in so long a history many things must have been said and done, which, if all had been told, would have presented a much wider basis of judgment than is actually afforded. The severest brevity is necessary in a book like the Bible, which, touching on so many points, must yet be compact enough to be portable. What is selected for notice, however, is always such as to give a just idea of the real character. There must, however, have been a much larger number both of good deeds and bad deeds in the whole life.
(2.) We must remember the age in which he lived. It is not easy to ply one’s boat against the stream, and especially when the stream has become a rapid current. Those times were greatly degenerate, so much so that the moral mainspring of the nation seemed to be broken. Though severely smitten, backsliding Israel knew not how to return to their God. With the exception of a few little arks of preservation here and there, iniquity, as a mighty flood, had overspread the land. The religious light was dim; indeed, in some places, it seemed as if the lamp of God had gone out, and the nation were groping in darkness. Immorality of all kinds was so common that it was little regarded. It is manifest that temptations to sin in such an age were far stronger than when the moral standard stood high, and powerful restraints were raised up on all hands to any transgression of the Divine law.
(3.) His mission led him to associate much with the wicked. We believe he was too often and too long in the atmosphere of evil, and all too little in the companionship of the good. For though the pure circles were few and far between, they did exist as “lights shining in a dark place.” Yet if his mission practically, really was to harass the oppressors of Israel, and to be a bulwark against their attacks, it was necessary for him often to meet with them. This exposed him to much danger, and required much prayer and much watching to protect him from the evil influence. His error seems to have been that he placed himself too little under the Divine guidance, and in the Divine keeping. Going down to Timnath for the first time, a perfect stranger, a scene rank with moral malaria, he ought to have “prayed without ceasing,” in the spirit of the words, “lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” In an unguarded moment, through the eye the heart is led captive, and quickly he is ensnared to enter into marriage relationship with the member of a heathen family. one has said, “it is needful to set a strong guard on our outward senses, for these are Satan’s landing places, especially the eye and the ear.”
(4.) He had certain weak points in his character. Scripture itself speaks of the “sin which easily besets us,” it may be on account of our natural temperament or disposition, or on account of training or force of temptation. Some have a special tendency to pride, others to selfishness, some to ambition, others to avarice, some are prone to jealousy others to deceit and double dealing, some are inclined to detraction, others to stealing and circumvention, some are given to prevarication, others to evil speaking, some are addicted to excess of wine, others to impurity. This last appears to have been the fatal weakness of Israel’s defender, which though it does not palliate his sin accounts for its commission. When a man has a constitutional tendency to any sin it requires a greater effort for him to resist the downward tendency. “Satan, like a skilful angler, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish.”
(5.) He did not realise the danger of his position. This may have arisen partly, from his youth and unacquaintance with the lures and enticements of the world; partly, from his conscious strength, which led him on no occasion to fear the face of man; partly, from a certain self-willedness, owing to his being an only son, and being accustomed by his parents ever to have his own way; from various causes he seems not to have realised his danger, until he actually fell into the traps which Satan had laid for the unwary bird. How differently it might have fared with him had he daily, and even hourly, come to the Throne of grace, to find grace to help him in the measure of his need. But he seems not to have reflected that he was on an “Enchanted Ground,” that the poison of the old serpent hung in sparkling drops on every blade of grass, and that every potion he put to his lips was drugged. May God grant that we all have both eyes and ears wide open while we are still treading so dangerous a territory.
III. The need of caution in judging religious character.
To judge of any man’s moral or religious character is to tread on extremely delicate ground. The right to pass any judgment at all is more than questionable, and the range within which it may be allowed is extremely limited. “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.” “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” But where the right is exercised, in few cases we believe have more shallow, inconsiderate, unjust, and unnecessarily severe judgments been formed of any one’s religious character, than in that of the man brought before us in these pages. How many judge him as if he had passed life in the light of modern times, as if he had no, or few disadvantages, and as if there were nothing trying or peculiar in the situation in which he was placed! How many regard him as one of the worst of men, a disgrace to the nation to which he belonged, one who habitually indulged in debasing vices, and altogether unfit to enter into the kingdom of God! Some even go so far as to say, that, because this name stands in the list of the men who became famous through their faith, therefore the whole list must be condemned as not necessarily a list of religious men. In the life of this man they see nothing but dark passions, foul associations, and ungodly practices.
That Samson’s character was one, which in many respects is not to be imitated, will be admitted by all; that many of his acts must be severely censured is at once conceded, but that he plunged systematically into all manner of excesses is not on the record. It is overlooked by the censors, that he was commissioned by God Himself to do a great work for His church and people, that, though he was severely punished for his sins, his last cry for help was granted, and that it is a dangerous thing to denounce a man utterly whom God does not cast away. That he had certain bright sides of character is also undoubted.
There is need of caution in this matter, because—
(1.) We ourselves are transgressors. This circumstance alone should make us hesitate. Were we pure and spotless like the native sons of light, there might be some propriety in coming forward to denounce those who have blemishes and imperfections of character. But, as the case stands, with what force may it be said in the case of many, “Wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself.” If we stand clear of the grosser sins in the catalogue, are we not all rebels against God’s authority, and wanting in love to Him with all the heart, soul, strength and mind? Have we not, all of us, reason to be ashamed to lift up our heads before the holy, because of our spiritual vileness and ungodliness? Who among us has not lost character in the universe of the holy? What presumption is it then to come forward as critics of the character of others, when, in the most essential features we have lost our own!
(2.) It is not our province to judge others. We are not judges but subjects of judgment. This is true of all men. It is a species of impertinence of the worst kind. It is more heinous still, when one goes the length of daring to say what ought to be the treatment which should be measured out to a man by the Judge of all the earth, and whether he should be admitted into the kingdom of the holy or not. We fear that were the issues to be according to the verdicts which men pass on each other’s characters before God, the final heaven would be a thinly-peopled home (Jas_4:11-12). God alone is Lord of the conscience, and it is “by Him that actions are weighed” (Mat_7:1-2).
(3.) It is sinful to judge in a light spirit and without a due sense of responsibility. Many thoughtless people find it so easy, and indeed so congenial an exercise for heartless natures, to sit in the chair of judgment, that it does not occur to them that there is responsibility in the opinions they express. They do not reflect that no more deadly stab can be given to a fellow creature than when they throw out aspersions against his moral or religious character. Those aspersions may be utterly futile in producing any injurious effect, but it is only because of the weakness of the hand that throws them, and not that the weapons used are less deadly in character, or that there is any lack of intention to do evil. Such persons do not reflect that they assume the unenviable office of being the murderers of the characters of others, who are not only unjustly accused by them, but who may be all the while within the kingdom of heaven, while the accusers themselves are standing without. In all cases, great is the responsibility of using an unbridled tongue in speaking of the religious character or conduct of others. What should we think of a man taking liberties with his neighbour by shooting darts into the apple of his eye?
(4.) It is by the whole character that a man is to be judged. In every good man there are faults and also redeeming features. There is the “old man,” and also the “new man.” “Men are to be estimated by the mass of character. A block of tin has often a grain of silver, but still it is tin, and a block of silver may have an alloy of tin but still it is silver. The mass of David’s character was excellence, but with alloy.” It is a very great fault in any man himself when he can see nothing in his neighbour but faults, or when, because of the faults he sees, he presumes that there can be no excellences. Those who busy themselves in finding motes in the eyes of others, generally have a beam of no small dimensions in their own. Perfection even in the best of God’s people, does not exist in this world. Every good man is here in a transition state, The leaven of holiness has begun to work, and in due time will leaven the whole mass, but not as yet; so that, however much to be deplored, and however great the guilt implied, sin may be expected to break out, more or less, through strong temptation, or when one neglects to pray and be on his guard.
(5.) We have a very partial knowledge of the character of others. We look only “on the outward appearance, the Lord alone looketh on the heart.” Our best practical rule is, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Yet that rule applies only for practical purposes in our dealings with men. It does not reveal the motives and aims of action, nor tell the “secret thoughts and intents of the heart.” A man’s character is often misconstrued by his fellow men. There is an inner life going on which is little indicated by the external manner, until a special time comes round, when particularly testing circumstances occur, and bring to light what was never supposed to exist. The secret springs of a man’s character are known only to the all-seeing eye. Hence the great need of caution in forming a judgment, lest while looking only at what appears, we should make a serious mistake as to what exists in reality.
(6.) It is not the greatness of a man’s sin that finally decides his character, but his impenitence. Sin is never to be otherwise than severely condemned, and the greater the sin is, the more emphatic must the condemnation be. Yet, great as the distinction is between what might be called the least sin, and the greatest sin, that distinction is small compared with the difference between the least sin and no sin. The former is a difference of degree, the latter is one of principle. So great a matter is it to find an expiation for sin in the principle of it, that when that is found, the difficulty is got over in expiating sin in any degree of it. Let a sin be ever so great, it can be expiated by that which suffices to atone for the principle of sin. Hence the greatness of a man’s sins, however much they are to be execrated, will not block his way to receive pardon, provided there is suitable penitence.
But we fear there is less likelihood of penitence in the case of wilful and known sin. It is also more provoking to God, and it puts a deeper stamp of reproach on the character in the eyes of fellow man. Yet it would be highly derogatory to the value of Christ’s blood to say that it could not wipe out the stain of the greatest sin, if the sinner takes refuge in that blood, and turns from his sin unto God, with endeavour after new obedience. It is not the greatness of the sin that finally condemns anyone, but the not repenting of sin. Neither is it the greatness of the breach a man makes in God’s laws that finally determines what his state is to be, but his obstinate continuance in impenitence.
HOMILETIC REMARKS ON CHAPTER 14
I. The need of watchfulness in the enemy’s country.
(1.) Because the enemy himself is ever awake. Saul would not have slept in the trench had he known that David was so near. Sisera would not have laid down to rest had he seen the nail and the hammer in the hand of Jael. “Hannibal is at the gates!” was enough to keep all Rome awake; and so the warning, that “the roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour,” may keep us all, and always on our guard (Mat_24:43).
(2.) There is much evil latent in the heart. On that evil within a man Satan plants his temptations. Here was his difficulty with the Saviour—“the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me”—nothing on which to plant his enticements to sin. Were there no traitors in the camp, the danger would be less; but there is gunpowder lying all about in our case, and one spark is enough to create an explosion. “There is a secret disposition in every man’s heart to sin. Temptation does not fall on one, as a ball of fire on ice or snow, but as a spark or tinder, or lightning on a thatched roof, which is at once on flame (Jas_1:14.) The fowler lays the snare, but the bird’s own desire betrays it into the net.”
(3.) The beginnings of evil lead to more. A few drops oozing through an embankment may make a passage for the whole lake of waters. Little sins if allowed are the beginnings of great ones. In robbing a house, thieves put in a little boy at the window, whose work is to open the door and let them in; so the tempter, in rifling the soul, employs temptation to some smaller sin, which, little though it be, is sufficient to unlock the bars of conscience, and prepare for the commission of gross crimes. A pore in the body may be a door wide enough to let in a disease.
(4.) The path of duty sometimes leads close to the edges of sin. It was Samson’s duty to have to do with Philistines. It required sharp looking round about on all sides, to avoid the darts of the wicked one. “It is not safe to bring gunpowder within the reach even of a spark; nor is it wise, however dexterous your driving, to shave with your wheels the edge of a beetling precipice; nor is it without the greatest danger, in the best-built bark that ever rode the waves, to sail on the outermost rim of a roaring whirlpool.” “Many a duty lies between Scylla and Charybdis. Faith cuts its way between the Mountain of Presumption, and the Gulf of Despair. No truth but has some error next door.” Examples in Samson, Joseph, Jephthah, David, etc.
(5.) We must watch all round. “The city cannot be safe unless the whole line be kept. It is all one whether the enemy breaks in at the front, flank, or rear of an army; or whether the ship be taken at sea, or sink in the haven when the voyage is over. The honest watchman doth not limit his care to the house or street, but walks the rounds and compasseth the whole town. So the whole man must be watched. A strong guard must be set about the outward sense, for these are Satan’s landing places, especially the eye and the ear.” Neglect of this was Samson’s mistake (Job_31:1; Psa_101:3; Psa_141:3-4). “There is a white devil of spiritual pride, as well as a black devil of fleshly lusts; and if only Satan can ruin us, it is all the same to him by what engines he does it; it is all the same whether we go down to hell as gross carnal sinners, or as elated self-righteous saints.”
(6.) We must watch at all times. There are times of special danger, as for instance after great manifestations of the Divine love. There is danger of being lifted up with pride, and so falling into the condemnation of the devil (2Co_12:7 etc.; Luk_22:31-32). “As a pirate sets on the ship that is heavily laden, so when a soul has been filled with spiritual comforts, the devil, full of envy, will keep shooting at him to rob him of all. After great services, honours and mercies, there are critical times of danger. Noah, Lot, David and Solomon fell in these circumstances. Satan is a footpad who dares not attack a man going to the bank, but when returning with his pockets full of money.”
II. Man’s sin often overruled by God for His people’s good.
It was sinful for Samson to form a family connection with these God-despising heathens. Yet God overruled this sinful step to bring about the deliverance of Israel from their oppressors. “It was of the Lord” to allow Samson to follow his own natural inclinations, that out of the events which naturally followed, occasion might arise for the chastisement of these cruel and ungodly men. Joseph’s brethren sold their brother into Egypt as a slave. They “thought evil towards him, but God meant it for good, etc.” (Gen_50:20). Pilate and the Jewish rulers took “with wicked hands and crucified” the Lord of glory, to gratify their own malice and sinful purposes, yet God overruled this greatest of sins for the purpose of fulfilling what had been spoken by all the prophets from the beginning of time, that Christ should suffer in men’s stead and so open the way for their becoming reconciled to God. All the calamities which befel Israel from time to time, through the invasion of surrounding nations, each a most afflictive scourge while it lasted, though prompted by malice, envy and lust of power, were yet overruled by God to discipline His people, to prevent their falling into apostasy and to preserve them on earth as a God-fearing nation.
III. The difficult battle which some have to fight in fulfilling their duty to their God.
Samson’s lot was to fight these Philistines, and with carnal weapons. At that time too the Philistines had the upper hand, while Samson must combat them all alone. Every man has his post assigned him all over the field. Some like David or Jephthah have to occupy for a long time the position of outlaws, and to show their fidelity to their God at the head of bands of lawless men. Others like Jonathan have sometimes to meet a whole army in the field, though all alone. Others like Elijah have to stand up and reprove a whole nation with their king at their head, and require them to engage in immediate repentance. Still others, like Moses, had to conduct a murmuring and stiff-necked people for forty years through a barren wilderness. And the first preachers of the cross had to stand forth and proclaim in the ears of a proud and rebellious world the most humbling and unpalatable of all truths, as the only road to pardon of sin, and hope for the eternal future. Indeed no lot in Christ’s service is without a cross. Self denial is the general law (Luk_14:26-27); but there is a blessed compensation (Luk_18:28-30).
IV. Those who are in Divine keeping receive special strength amid special dangers.
Just as God encouraged Moses when entering on His service, first by turning his rod into a serpent, and then by turning the serpent into a rod; and, as He encouraged David in like manner, by enabling him to slay both a lion and a bear, as a pledge of future victories in God’s service, so now is Samson fortified against the dangers of his future career. He was destined to have many encounters with human lions, and now a picture is presented to him of the success which would crown his efforts in the fight. “The beast came bristling up his fearful mane, wafting his raised tail, his eyes sparkling with fury, his mouth roaring out knells of his last passage, and breathing death from his nostrils at the prey before him. But the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson. He that made the lions to stand in awe of Adam, Noah, and Daniel, now subdued this strong animal before Samson, so that he tore him in pieces as he would have rent a slender kid. And if his bones had been brass, and his skin plates of iron, it had been all one before a man who received the strength of Omnipotence for the moment.” [Hall.]
“If the roaring lion of hell should find us alone among the vineyards of the Philistines, where is our hope? Not in our heels, he is swifter than we; not in our weapons, we are naturally unarmed; not in our hands, for they are weak and nerveless, but in the Spirit of that God by whom we can do all things, who giveth power to the faint, and, to them that have no might, increaseth strength. There is a stronger lion in the believer than that which roars against him.” [Hall.]
God gives assurance of such succour to all His people (Deu_33:25). Thus it was with Paul (2Ti_4:17-18; Php_4:13); with David (1Sa_17:34-35); with Jeremiah (Jer_20:11); with Daniel (Dan_6:22); with the Saviour Himself (Isa_50:6-7); with all Christ’s people (Isa_40:29-31).
V. Those who do the mighty deeds of faith are the least disposed to boast of themselves.
The conquest over the lion was gained we believe through faith. When the Spirit of God came mightily on any of those who were specially commissioned to do God’s work, it was always accompanied by the exercise of strong faith on the part of the chosen instrument. He looked only to God for the needed strength (Psa_118:6-14; Psa_18:29-36; Psa_71:16). Samson himself, though conscious of a far greater than the ordinary measure of a man’s strength, yet never boasts of that strength as his own, but on one special occasion expressly ascribes the deliverance given to the hand of God (Jdg_15:18). That we take as an example of what he always did; for the few particulars recorded respecting him are always to be understood as a specimen of how he did in many other cases which are not recorded. Though it is not expressly mentioned in other cases that he did his exploits through faith, or immediate application to his God for promised strength, the fact that it is expressly mentioned in one case is an indication of what it always was with him. And this is confirmed by the fact that his name is given in the list of those who “obtained a good report through faith.” He as well as Daniel may be said to have “stopped the mouths of lions.”
Yet he did not tell the world of this great deed. He felt that the glory was not due to him but to his God. Therefore he was silent, not telling even his parents, but keeping the matter locked up in his bosom as a profound secret for many a day. Most men would have blown the trumpet loud and long, and used every means to get their names inserted in the roll of fame. If there were some degrading elements in this character there were also some that were truly ennobling. It was Christ-like to make little of the world’s applause. After performing His mighty works, our Lord for the most part withdrew into a desert place, or retired to the mountain side, to spend the night in prayer to God—a beautiful index of the direction in which the needle of the heart pointed. Deep waters make the least noise. Samson probably talked of this matter to his God also, unseen by the world. (Compare Paul’s keeping as a secret for fourteen years the greatest honour ever conferred on any man in this life as detailed in 2Co_12:1-12).
VI. God sometimes stores up comforts for His people where they would least expect to find them.
In that typical age every thing was full of instruction. There was a lesson in the discovery made so unexpectedly of honey in the carcass of the lion. After so hard a struggle, in which the Spirit of God came to his help, the result is a feast of honey! Honey is honey still, though found in the lion’s carcass. In God’s service “the bitter comes before the sweet,” and that, says Bunyan, “makes the sweet the sweeter.” Joseph’s hard lines in being sold, and in leading a prison life for-years, with all its privations and exhibitions of cold-heartedness from those around him, brought in the end a glorious vindication of character and improvement of circumstances. David’s many and great trials furnished him with materials for writing his sweetest psalms, and made him the comforter and counsellor of God’s people in every age. After encountering the fiercest opposition from the enemies of the truth at Antioch, the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Some severe trials are made to turn men’s dispositions into sweetness, and all features of excellence. That is honey out of the lion’s carcass. “How precious are thy thoughts”—that is when taking a retrospect of God’s way of leading us!
VII. The perils of the wicked’s fellowship.
Samson now sat at a Philistine’s board. There were suspicious glances all round the table. “When they saw him”—how strong and well-built, how formidable he might become were any dispute to arise, they set spies around him, consisting of thirty strong young men, to be a guard over him in case of any outbreak. That was a poor stockade of defence against a roused Samson; but the wicked’s protection is always a mere wall of reeds. In the language of deceit, which might be said to be the vernacular of Philistine social circles, they called these young men “friends of the bridegroom.” The company professed to be full of smiles, while their hearts were full of deadly thoughts. It was an easy transition to pass from the friendly query—“Art thou in health, brother?” to give a stab under the fifth rib. It was an atmosphere of treachery. Their farther conduct in stealing the solution of the riddle proposed, in extorting it from the terrified bride by threats, and in actually determining to burn her and her relatives with fire, showed some of the perils of the wicked’s fellowship. But it was worse still when she, whom he was to take as the companion of his bosom, actually betrayed her husband behind his back, and did what, to an honourable mind like that of Samson, was the same as giving him a stab in the very heart. So it is with those who have no fear of God before their eyes.
VIII. The ways of deceit end to the injury of those who practise them.
Samson did indeed act the part of honour in paying the forfeit to those who had nominally won it. But he took his own mode of fulfilling the conditions of the riddle. He paid the forfeit with Philistine blood and clothing (Jdg_14:19). He virtually said, since you have unrighteously compelled me to pay, I shall do so at the expense of your own countrymen; and so begin the infliction of the heavy blows on your wicked race for their oppression of God’s chosen people. Thus the ways of deceit recoil on those who walk in them (Psa_5:6; Psa_10:7-10; Psa_52:1-5).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Marriage of Samson
The Marriage of Samson
1-5. Samson chooses a wife among the Philistines. He and his parents go down to Timnath.
Read full note →
2. Timnath] some 4 m. SW. of Zorah, allotted to Dan (Jos_19:43); it was retaken by the Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2Ch_28:18). Get her for me to wife] It was customary for parents to conduct the negotiations and pay the dowry: cp. Gen_34:4-12.
3. Cp. Gen_24:3; Gen_26:34; Gen_27:46; Genesis 4. It was of the Lord] God purposed to use Samson as a weapon against the Philistines.
6-9. The slaying of the Lion.
6. Cp. Jdg_13:25 for the exploit, cp. 1Sa_17:34; 2Sa_23:20.
8. A swarm of bees.. in the carcase] probably it had dried up under the hot sun.
10, 11. The bridal feast.
11. When they saw him] Many Greek MSS, by a slight change, read 'since they feared him,' a natural explanation of this choice of what was practically a 'body-guard.' Cp. Mat_9:15, 'the children of the bride-chamber.'
12-20. Samson's Riddle and its consequences.
12. Thirty] one for each of his new companions. Sheets] RV 'linen garments.'
15. Called] i.e. invited us to your feast. To take that we have] RV 'impoverish us.'
16. She does not dare to tell her husband the real reason of her curiosity.
17. Lay sore upon him] RV 'pressed him sore.'
19. Ashkelon] on the coast of the Philistine country. There is, however, a village of the same name about an hour S. of Timnath (mentioned in 'Survey of Western Palestine') to which perhaps Samson rushed off. To leave the bride like this is an insult, which her father at once avenges by giving her to the 'best man': cp. Jdg_15:2.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 14 The First Deeds of Samson
CHAPTER 14 The First Deeds of Samson
1. The woman in Timnath (Jdg 14:1-4)
Read full note →
2. The killing of the young lion and the honey in the carcass (Jdg 14:5-9)
3. The marriage feast and the riddle (Jdg 14:10-14)
4. The riddle answered (Jdg 14:15-18)
5. Thirty Philistines slain by Samson (Jdg 14:19-20)
Samson was called of God to be a true Nazarite, but in his life which was to manifest the Nazarite character he failed. “He went down to Timnath” is a foreboding beginning. It was a step in the wrong direction. He stepped upon the territory of the enemy to enter into an alliance with the Philistines. He meets one of the daughters of the Philistines, a woman in Timnath. Two other women we find in Samson’s life, an harlot of Gaza and Delilah. They are alike, representing the “wiles of the devil.” They lead him down and ultimately accomplish his downfall and death. Timnath means “portion assigned.” He left his occupation to seek a portion with the Philistines. Yet it was of the Lord in the sense that He permitted it for a wise purpose. And in that wrong course he came to the vineyards of Timnath and met the roaring lion. The lion is the type of Satan (Amo 3:8; 1Pe 5:8). He roared at the Nazarite, as Satan still roars against any one who bears the marks of separation unto God. Then in the power of the Spirit who came upon Samson he rent the lion as a kid. Then he saw the woman and she pleased him well. Strange contrast! In the power of the Spirit he tore the lion and then falls victim to the enemy in another form. How often this is the case in the experiences of God’s people. Afterwards he found in the carcass of the lion the swarm of bees and the honey, which he ate and also gave to his parents. “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” Our blessed Lord has conquered Satan and as the result of that mighty overthrow and victory, accomplished on the Cross, we have our meat, our sweetness, our salvation and blessing.
Another application besides the above and also of the believer’s personal experience in conquering by faith the enemy and receiving sweetness through it, has been suggested: “The occurrences which took place when Samson visited Timnath, the residence of the woman (the lion, and the honey afterwards found in the carcass), were highly significant, and adapted to instruct both him and his people. He seems himself to be aware, in some degree, of their importance, as he introduces them in his riddle. The lion, namely, is an image of the kingdoms of the world which are hostile to the kingdom of God; the attack, the struggle, and the victory thus acquire a symbolical meaning. The riddle also includes a truth of great importance, the evidence of which is furnished in manifold ways by the history of the world, and which admits of an appropriate application even to our times. The attack of the lion was an image of the Philistine invasion; the eater famished Israel with meat and sweetness, the destroyer brought salvation and blessings with him; for the yoke of the Philistines was a chastisement, designed to lead the people to repentance, and terminate in their renewed acceptableness before God.”
Then he is in very bad company. He went down to Timnath alone. He met the woman, then he made a feast and was surrounded by thirty Philistines as companions. He had allied himself with the enemy. And this compromise, this mingling with the enemies of the cross of Christ, is the common thing today and has led to the grieving of the Spirit and the loss of power. “For example, the modern system of revival--to which our Samson, in his failure, so closely answers--in which, whilst there doubtless often is more or less of true faithful service, yet to effect the end an alliance even with the enemy is sought; the aid of the world is sought in obtaining deliverance from the world! Fleshly attractions, eloquent speakers, exquisite music, cunning schemes for gathering crowds to attract crowds; all the churches closed except one, thus awakening a natural excitement; all these are daughters of the Philistine, very fair, all serving religion and pleasing us well; but very, very dangerous. For whilst at first they may not appear serious, they point to the possibility of their becoming so in the future; nor do they ever radically aid, but always hinder, the Nazarite.
He gives the riddle to the Philistines and makes a wager. The woman, now Samson’s wife, wept and continued till he told her the secret, “and she told the riddle to the children of her people.” Here was his weak point, which eventually resulted in his shameful downfall and humiliating experience. He could not keep a secret. But it was all the results of his going down, forming an alliance with the enemy he was called to overcome. He did not see that he had stepped in the wrong direction. He blamed the Philistines and not himself. “If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.” Then he slew thirty Philistines to make good his promise and thus openly declared his hatred and antagonism to the enemy for the first time.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Preliminary Arrangements
The Preliminary Arrangements
v. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath, in the region where the highlands of Judah merge into the plains of Philistia, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the philistines, who were therefore encroaching pretty far upon the territory of the Israelites.
Read full note →
v. 2. And he came up, to the hilly country where the home of his parents was, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; now, therefore, get her for me to wife. The act of giving children in marriage is clearly the prerogative of the parents according to the plain doctrine of God’s Word. A young man may state his preference and, in most cases, urge his suit successfully, but first with his own parents, for unless he sets forth with their blessing, or at least with their express consent, the serious business of taking a wife may prove disastrous to him.
v. 3. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, of his own tribe, or among all my people, in all Israel, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines, for the rite of circumcision was a distinction which Israel had above all heathen nations as a sign of God’s covenant. The objection of Manoah and his wife was founded upon Exo 34:16 and Deu 7:3-4, for, although the philistines are not expressly named in the list of heathen nations with whose members marriage was not to be consummated, yet the principle of the prohibition excluded the Philistines as well as all others. Mixed marriages are dangerous at all times, and parents will best perform their duty if they prevent the union between their children and unbelievers, and also false believers, from the start. And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. It may have been only a temporary attachment which Samson felt, but he was insistent, and his parents finally consented.
v. 4. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that Jehovah had so arranged matters, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, a valid ground for a quarrel and for an attack upon them; for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel, the Lord had delivered Israel into their hand to be oppressed by them, Jdg 13:1.
v. 5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, the young man evidently preceding his parents in his eagerness to press his suit with the woman of his choice, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, to the hills which bordered upon a more desolate section of country; and, behold, a young lion, fierce and bloodthirsty, roared against him, rushed upon him with all evidences of bloodthirstiness.
v. 6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, urging him on with great force, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, taking hold of the beast with his bare hands and slaughtering him with the greatest ease, and he had nothing in his hand, no weapon of any kind; but he told not his father or his mother what he had done, he was conscious for the first time that the strength which he possessed was an unusual power, and he felt diffident about discussing it even with his parents, all the more so because they would have been startled by the account of the danger in which he had been.
v. 7. And he went down and talked with the woman, with the idea of finding out more of her character and suitability by a conversation with her; and she pleased Samson well, the impression which he had first gained was confirmed.
v. 8. And after a time he returned to take her, coming down once more with his parents to celebrate the nuptials, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, for the heat of the dry season is so great as to take up all the moisture from a dead body before decay sets in; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion, the wild bees had lost no time in using the dry carcass as a hive.
v. 9. And he took thereof in his hands, drawing it out with his fingers as the only spoons available and using his hands as vessels, and went on eating, munched of the honey as he went along, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat, also relishing the delicacy; but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion, for that would have brought out the story of the encounter with the lion. This incident gave Samson the suggestion for the riddle which he proposed during the week of feasting. A greater than Samson, Christ, the almighty God, has overcome the roaring lion, Satan, and this victory is the source of peace, salvation, and life for all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 Samson went down to Timnah
Samson went down to Timnah
The phrase "went down" is used here because Timnah is lower in elevation than where his father's house was. Timah is the name of a city in the Sorek Valley. (See: How to Translate Names)
Read full note →
one of the daughters of the Philistines
The word "daughter" is a polite way to refer to a young, unmarried woman. AT: "one of the unmarried women among the Philistine people" or "a Philistine girl" (See: Euphemism)
Now get her for me to be my wife
This is an idiom. Samson was demanding his parents to speak to the Philistine woman's parents about marriage. AT: "Now arrange for her to become my wife" or "Make the arrangements for me to marry her" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Samson
Philistines
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.